Hanging On At the End of the World
by Morte Giver
Summary: AU. In 2010 the epidemic started, dismantling civilization as we know it. In 2013 Kendall Knight, Logan Mitchell, Carlos Garcia and James Diamond are trying to survive in the new, cruel world. However rival gangs, a shortening food and water supply, as well as newly discovered feelings for their very male friends make that just a bit more difficult. Welcome to your new life boys.
1. Part 1

So this is a story I did for the BTR Big Bang over on Livejournal. I've already posted this on AO3 in its entirety and I'm posting it here as well. This has Kogan, Jarlos, Jagan!bromance and Kenlos!bromance. I hope you guys enjoy :)

* * *

**January 14th, 2010**

**Unnamed Research Lab **

**Atlanta**

Cody Molinaro sat back in his chair and groaned before he rubbed a hand over his face and grabbed his recorder. The vaccine they had been commissioned to create wasn't working. The disease was too aggressive and their vaccines too weak. It would probably help if they knew just iwhat/i disease they were making the vaccine for, but the higher ups had decided that it was classified information. All Cody knew was it wasn't like any disease he had ever seen before, which meant it was probably a mutation.

"XV-2954 has shown no signs of improvement over previous tests. The disease continues to degrade the immune system too fast for XV-2954 to combat. White blood cell counts drop within the first few hours, followed by a complete shutdown of the immune system before the disease spreads and attacks the nervous system, culminating in the eventual death of the subject."

Cody sighed and set his recorder down. He heard the door swish open, signaling a visitor. He turned his head and smiled grimly as he saw his partner, Jamie Feiler. She smiled back, looking resigned.

"Nothing good, I take it?" He shook his head in response. She just sighed and set down the clipboard she was carrying on her desk.

"Well, we still have a few months to meet the deadline, I'm sure we'll find something," she said. Cody nodded, but he wasn't too optimistic.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure we will."

center-/center

**February 20th, 2010**

**Unnamed Research Lab**

**Atlanta**

**7:30PM**

Jamie and Cody stood anxiously next to their division boss, Lance Franson. They stood behind a two-way mirror and watched as their vaccine was administered to some volunteers. They had finally found what they hoped would be a stable vaccine for the mystery disease. This was the only vaccine that they had produced that had shown any positive affects against the disease.

They had six volunteers to try to vaccine on, and they would keep them in the facility for a few days to see if there were any immediate adverse side effects. As the last vaccine was administered Cody and Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. Now all they had to do was wait.

Lance turned to them and grinned, clapping them both on the shoulder.

"Go home, both of you. Get some sleep. You can come back in the morning to check on how they're doing."

Both of them nodded, following Lance out of the room. They looked at each other and grinned.

"You're not going home, are you?" Cody asked. Jamie snorted and shook her head.

"Hell no. We've worked on this thing for the past two months, I'm not leaving yet. I'm going to stay to monitor them through the night. You?"

"What do you think?"

They both laughed and made their way to their lab.

**February 21st, 2010**

**8:45AM**

Jamie yawned as she slumped over in her chair. She jerked away a second later as someone slapped something down on the table in front of her.

"Huh, what?" She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked up at Cody's grinning face. She scowled and he laughed before handing her a thermos.

"Is that any way to greet your coworker, who has graciously decided to share some of his coffee with you?" Cody teased.

Jamie grumbled, but sipped at the liquid heaven and moaned as she did so. Cody just laughed again before he sat down next to her and looked through the two-way mirror into the room where their volunteers were resting.

"So, any changes?" Jamie shook her head and took another sip of the coffee.

"Nope, they all slept peacefully through the night."

Right as she said that a monitor started screaming. They both sat up straight with wide eyes as one of the volunteers started to spasm violently. Nurses flooded the room and went to restrain the patient. Someone started to snap orders as they tried to stabilize the woman, who was slowly growing more and more unrestrained.

The other patients started to wake up, except for one, who kept sleeping. The awake ones looked at the woman who was now screaming at the top of her lungs and trying to bite and claw at anyone that got close.

A second later another machine started to go off, and attention turned to the man who had managed to somehow sleep through all the noise.

"He's flat-lining! Someone get a crash cart in here!"

More people flooded in as a new team tried to help the dying man. Jamie and Cody just watched in stunned disbelief as the woman who had been going crazy was finally sedated and the doctors and nurses in their employ tried, and failed, to save the man.

Five hours later they were joined by Lance and the facilities director, Allyson Byard. They stared into the room that, not six hours ago, had contained six living volunteers. Now, all but two of the volunteers were dead. One of them was heavily sedated, as any time she 'woke up' she went crazy and tried to kill anyone close to her.

The last volunteer, a young woman named Dollie, was barely managing to hold on. The doctors gave her maybe another hour before she succumbed as well. Nothing they could do had helped.

Allyson observed this all with a cool gaze, completely unfazed. Jamie, Cody and Lance watched her nervously, hoping that they wouldn't lose their jobs for this.

Allyson turned to them a moment later, eyes hard. "I want this cleaned up," she spoke, voice cold and ringing with authority. The trio nodded and Allyson turned her gaze back to the room as Dollie's life support machine started to wail.

"Dispose of the bodies and keep this out of the media. I don't particularly feel like dealing with a scandal right now. Figure out what went wrong and _fix it_. We can't afford to lose this grant, understood?" She turned her gaze back to the trio, who nodded wildly.

"O-of course Ms. Byard, we'll deal with it right away." Lance spoke up, a hesitant smile on his face. Allyson quirked a brow at him before smirking in amusement and turning to leave. As soon as she was gone the trio let out a collective sigh of relief.

Lance turned to Cody and Jamie, a hard look on his face as he hissed out, "Figure this out _fast_, I don't want to hang for your incompetence, got it?" the duo nodded and he narrowed his eyes before turning to look into the room as Dollie succumbed to the deadly vaccine.

"And make sure that that," he pointed to the room, "doesn't happen again." He said. The duo nodded again and Lance snarled before leaving the room. Jamie and Cody looked at each other, pale and shaky.

"Back to the drawing board," Jamie sighed out, running a shaking hand through her hair. Cody nodded and slumped down into a nearby chair, wondering where they had gone _so wrong_.

'Thank god for preliminary testing,' Cody thought. It was what kept something like this from being mass-produced and spread out to the general public. Who knew just how many people would die, or go crazy apparently, if this vaccine was released to the public?

* * *

**February 22nd, 2010**

**Unnamed Research Lab – Disposal Centre **

**Atlanta**

Allan Farlow groaned as he tossed more papers and who-knew-what into the incinerator. He hated this job. It was always hot, dark, and uncomfortable at every turn and he was barely being paid minimum wage to do it. It barely paid the bills, which left him resorting to selling off any drug information that he could find to rival companies or gangs to pull in some extra money.

He was about to toss another batch of papers into the incinerator when something caught his eye. He stopped and scanned the sheet, not really understanding what was written. He was able to pick out a few words though, one of which was '_hallucinogenic_.' He grinned and tucked that and any related papers into his pocket before continuing his job.

He just found the ticket to his next paycheck. If he had known then just what selling the information on that particular drug would do, he would have tossed the papers in the incinerator with the rest of them. But he didn't, so he sold it off, blissfully ignorant of the chaos it would create. After all, what harm could the drug XV-2954 really cause?

* * *

**September, 2013 – Minnesota**

_Logan shivered violently, hands pressed over his mouth to keep the hysterical sobs from breaking free. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed, uselessly, that this was just a nightmare. That this wasn't real life and he could wake up and things would be back to normal and he could be happy. _

_A board creaked down the hallway from the closet he was hiding in and he froze. His eyes opened and he stared into the darkness ahead of him, only broken by the weak light seeping in from underneath the door. _

_A grunt echoed down the hall, followed by the sound of something (/isomeonei) clumsily walking forward. Logan's heart stuttered in his chest, his eyes wide with fear._

'_No, no, no, please, please, turn around, go away, go away, please, please, oh god,' he chanted mentally. His wish wasn't granted however, as the person continued forward. Logan shrunk backwards as best as he could, trying desperately to phase through the wall behind him._

_Something obstructed the light seeping underneath the door and Logan couldn't help the terrified whimper he released. He froze as soon as it was released, desperately hoping that it hadn't been heard. _

_Yeah, like his luck would be that good. _

_A roar, and then the door was ripped off of its hinges. Logan screamed and kicked out, foot connecting solidly with something hard and heavy. A grunt, and then he was being dragged out of the closet, hands ripping at his clothes._

"_No!" Logan screamed, fingers scrambling uselessly at the floor as he was dragged backwards on his belly. _

_Fingers dug into his thighs, bruising harshly before a fist was reaching out and hitting him in his head. Dazed, Logan couldn't resist as he was flipped onto his back, the figure settling on top of him and clawing at Logan's neck. _

_Logan gasped as his airway was constricted, weakly crying out for help. He swung at the person on top of him, once so familiar and loving but now nothing but a horrific monster. _

"_No, no, dad please!" he begged uselessly. His father responded by swinging a fist into Logan's temple. Pain sparked behind his eyes and Logan groaned, vision swimming. _

_Hands tightened around his throat, a wide, mocking sneer visible on his father's once kind face. Black spots crawled across his vision, his lungs burned for air. Logan's fingers weakly tried to pry his father's away from his neck, but all he succeeded in doing was irritating the man – no, monster, above him. _

_The front door, located behind Logan's head, crashed inwards violently. Logan couldn't see who it was, but he had a good idea. _

"_Get off of him," the person growled, and a second later a shot rang out. His father froze on top of him, eyes wide, before he slumped downwards. The bullet hole in the middle of his forehead oozed blood and something else, something that looked like brain matter but… wrong. _

_Logan inhaled sharply as his father's hands went lax around his throat, allowing him to breathe in precious oxygen once more. A second later his father's now dead body was rolled off of him and he was being hauled up and crushed into another embrace. _

_Logan clung to them tightly, the hysterical sobs from earlier finally breaking free. _

"_K-Ken-dall," he wheezed out and gripped the other boys shirt tighter. _

"_Sssh, sssh, I got you, you're safe now Logan, I promise," Kendall soothed. Logan continued to cry, clinging to his best friend and the only thing that made sense anymore in this new, frightening world._

Logan shot upwards in bed with a gasp, heart pounding wildly in his chest. He sighed shakily and ran a trembling hand through his hair. His clothes were sweat soaked and clung to his body irritatingly and his sheets were kicked down to the end of the bed. Moonlight seeped in from the window across the room as Logan slowly calmed down, his heartbeat steadying once more as the trembling throughout his body slowly ceased.

He looked across the room, to where Kendall's bed was, and was calmed to see that the younger man slept calmly. He looked around and saw that while James was asleep as well, Carlos was absent from his bed.

'Probably on watch,' Logan thought absently as he reached down and hauled his sheets up and over him again before lying down. He stared up at the ceiling, hands cushioned behind his head. It had been a while since he had had that dream, relived that particular memory. Logan had thought he was over it, but apparently his subconscious had other ideas.

Logan could remember when the reports first came out about the outbreak. He had scoffed in disbelief, not willing to believe that something so preposterous could be true. It sounded like something out of a B-rated horror flick. Not real life.

A drug that caused death or uncontrollable homicidal urges in whoever ingested it? Yeah, right.

Plus he had been too busy with preparations for college, 18 and with high school graduation right around the corner. He was studying for finals and worrying about whether or not his first choice for university was going to accept him. He didn't have time for someone's idea of an elaborate, though rather stupid, prank.

Of course then more and more reports started to flood in. And suddenly, instead of just a small section of the United States, the whole country was freaking out. Reports had started to come in overseas as well, slowly spreading as people freaked out and tried to flee to another country, unknowingly bringing the very epidemic they were trying to run away from with them.

Soon things had appeared to descend into utter chaos. The president was spirited away to a 'safe house' as the people demanded action. Unfortunately the police, National Guard, and hell, the fucking army had been overwhelmed. They were just as human, and therefore just as susceptible to the epidemic as everyone else.

Things had just gone downhill from there, and then suddenly nothing was coming in from Washington D.C. or the CDC. Shortly after that there was a total media blackout, which resulted in all phone lines being cut followed by the internet soon after.

Then it was just every person for themselves as the country descended into chaos. Logan had tried to get as much information as possible on what was happening while he was still able too. What he could find wasn't much, but enough to tell the story.

Apparently, an experimental drug thrown out by some research lab had ended up in the hands of someone it shouldn't have. They either didn't know, or didn't care, about all the side effects of the drug.

Instead they mass-produced it before selling it on the streets and black market as some sort of home-grown cure to some disease that people had been freaking out about for a while. It was an easy sale to people who didn't know any better. Just a few hundred people at first, but that was all it took to get the ball rolling.

Unfortunately, the side effects quickly took over whoever ingested the drug, usually within 24-48 hours. And what was worse? It was contagious. Once the drug entered your blood stream it could be spread to someone else without them even knowing it.

(Logan was still trying to figure that one out, as it made no sense whatsoever, but it hurt to think about so he didn't do it often)

Just killing the ones who went into a homicidal rage wouldn't do anything either. Even the dead bodies were contagious for a small period of time after death. Some people appeared to be naturally immune to the drug, but most weren't willing to risk it.

In just a matter of months civilization and life as people had known it had been demolished.

Logan made a face and glanced to the side. He picked up his watch from where it was laying on the side-table and glanced at the time.

'4:56' the glowing numbers told him. 'Huh, almost time for me to get up anyway,' he mused inwardly. He pushed the sheets back and stood up as silently as possible. All of them had gotten used to sleeping less over the past few years, but Logan didn't want to contribute to any potential sleep loss if he could help it.

He made his way down stairs quickly and quietly, despite the darkness of the house. Sunrise wouldn't be for another two hours at least and Logan hoped that there were some candles lit in the kitchen.

He turned into said room a minute later and was greeted by the sight of Carlos sitting at the table, two candles lit on top of it. Carlos turned to him as he entered, hand resting warily on top of the gun laying next to him.

Carlos relaxed when he saw it was only Logan and his hand moved to lie next to the gun instead of on top of it.

"Morning Logan. You're up a little early, aren't you?" Carlos teased quietly with a small smile. Logan shrugged and smiled back at the older male.

"Couldn't get back to sleep," he replied. Carlos nodded as he saw the look in Logan's eyes, correctly guessing the reason. Logan just smiled sadly at him and shrugged again before maneuvering around the table to the counter.

"Did anything happen?" he asked quietly, curious. Carlos shook his head before resting it on top of his propped up fist.

"Nah, it was quiet over here." Logan nodded absentmindedly as he set about making a cup of tea. He set the pot of water on top of the small, battery operated portable stove. He got his cup down from the cupboards and placed his desired tea bag (chamomile this morning) inside it before joining Carlos at the table.

Carlos was writing something down on a notepad that Logan hadn't seen earlier when he entered the room. Logan would have tried to read what Carlos was writing, but the last time he had done that would be exactly that, the _last_.

Instead Logan took this time to quietly observe the shorter man. Despite living together and being friends the past few years (and casual acquaintances the years before that), something about Carlos Garcia still intimidated Logan. He knew the older male was friendly enough with those he liked (and Logan was lucky to be counted among those few), but that didn't stop Logan from realizing and remembering just how dangerous the person in front of him was.

Carlos had moved to Minnesota when he was ten, quickly meeting Kendall (and subsequently Logan) soon after. Though Logan and Kendall had been friends since they were babies, it was undeniable that Kendall and Carlos had more in common, and the two became fast friends.

One of the things that they had had in common was their propensity towards trouble, and a complete disregard of the rules and authority figures (despite Carlos' father being a cop). Kendall had been a troubled kid, fueled by his verbally (and occasionally physically) abusive father, who then up and left with no warning, leaving Kendall's mom struggling to take care of two kids on her own.

When Kendall and Carlos met, Kendall was quickly on his way to becoming a little delinquent. He was getting into fights nearly every day, both on and off school grounds. Though Logan had tried to calm Kendall down and stop him from getting into so many fights, that had all gone to hell when Carlos arrived. The smaller boy had only joined in happily, helping Kendall beat on whoever pissed him off at the time for whatever reason.

The twosome quickly became the local nightmare, doing whatever they wanted and basically getting away with it because kids were too scared to point fingers at them. Even though everyone knew they were behind it. As they got older the two of them quickly gained followers and formed the local gang. They were untouchable, despite the fact that everyone knew if something happened they were likely behind it.

In high school they ruled the halls (when they deigned to go to class), and no one messed with them, or Logan, despite Logan not being in the gang. He had made peace quickly enough with the direction Kendall and Carlos' lives were going, and remained best friends with Kendall and close enough with Carlos.

Kendall (and Carlos) hadn't wanted him to get involved, and if they heard about anyone bullying or talking down to Logan, they were quick to retaliate. Logan as a result didn't have many friends, but he didn't mind, as he wouldn't trade Kendall's friendship for anything.

If there was anyone you didn't want to mess with, it was Kendall and Carlos. They didn't mind getting their hands dirty, and while they hadn't killed anyone before the epidemic, they had no qualms about killing someone now if that person threatened them or the people close to them. The people who made that short list right at that moment were Logan and James (though Carlos would protest that inclusion).

Carlos' parents would be included, but once the epidemic had reached Minnesota, it had quickly claimed Carlos' mother, doing to her what it had done to Logan's dad. Carlos' father had had to kill her, but he hadn't been able to do so before she had inflicted life-ending wounds on him. This left Carlos parentless, with his only family left being the people in this very house.

Carlos acted like it didn't affect him, as he and his parents hadn't seen eye to eye in years, but sometimes Logan would catch Carlos staring at something he had hidden under his pillow late at night, looking sad. Logan was willing to guess that it was a picture of his parents, but it wasn't his business so he never confirmed the theory.

Carlos looked up then and spotted Logan staring at him. Carlos's lips quirked a bit and Logan started to blush at being caught. "Something you need Logan?"

Logan shook his head quickly and mumbled something under his breath. Carlos laughed before glancing behind him and smirking.

"You might want to get your water before it boils over there," he remarked casually. Logan's eyes widened and he turned to see the water bubbling wildly on top of the portable stove.

"Shit!" he cried before jumping out of his chair and rushing over. He quickly turned the stove off and grabbed two oven mitts. He placed one on the counter top before using the other to guide the pot off the stove and onto the first mitt.

Behind him Carlos was laughing hysterically at Logan's plight. Logan grumbled a bit and shot a teasing glare over his shoulder at Carlos.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, it's not that funny," he muttered. Carlos snorted.

"Except it really is, dude."

Logan shook his head before carefully pouring the hot water into his mug. There was enough for two glasses, so he got down another mug and made a cup for Carlos. Carlos wasn't a tea drinker like Logan, but he'd drink some if it was placed in front of him. Logan carefully brought the cups over to the table and set them down, sliding one over to Carlos.

"Thanks," Carlos said, nodding his head. Logan shrugged in reply as he took his seat again.

"No problem." Logan waited a few minutes before taking a cautious sip of his tea. It was still a bit hot, but nothing he couldn't handle. He took another, longer sip, this time letting his mind wander instead of focusing on Carlos.

Outside it was starting to get a little lighter, though sunrise itself wouldn't happen for another hour at least. Which meant that Kendall, and James, would likely be getting up soon. Getting up with the sun had become the norm for them, even though before they had all hated it.

Logan quickly got up and walked over to their pantry to get some things out for breakfast. He grabbed some slices of bread before he stopped at the fridge that he had managed to hook up to a generator, though they only used it when they had something worth keeping cool. Inside he grabbed some strips of meat and some eggs before taking everything over to the portable stove.

Normally they didn't eat like this in the mornings (no one really did anymore), but it was a Sunday morning, which was the exception for them if they had the extra food to do it. This week they did, so Logan quickly set about making the food with Carlos watching him occasionally to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

(Which he had only done _once_ thank you very much, at the very beginning when he still wasn't used to cooking using a portable stove.)

Soon enough the kitchen was filled with the smell of sizzling meat. It was already getting lighter outside and Logan knew that Kendall would be coming down soon, followed shortly by James. As if hearing his thoughts, the sound of something thumping down the stairs echoed through the house, a moan of delight following after.

A second later Kendall walked through the entry way to the kitchen looking drowsy. "Oh god that smells good Logan," the taller boy moaned. Logan laughed and gestured to the table.

"Sit down; the food won't be ready for a little while yet." Kendall pouted at him but did as he said and slid into the chair next to Logan's abandoned one. Kendall propped his head up on a fist before gesturing for Carlos to talk.

"There's nothing really to report for last night. There was a minor disturbance on Cooper around 2 in the morning, but Dak was able to handle it and defuse the situation. I brought in a few others to help just in case and make sure nothing else would happen. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary on this street and no one else reported any disturbances."

"Good, good," Kendall mused absently. He was watching Logan as carefully as Carlos had done earlier. Kendall was sure his friend would be fine, but he could still remember the how frightening it had been for him when Logan had gotten hurt cooking for them in the early days. Even though it had been minor, comparatively, Kendall didn't like seeing his best friend hurt.

Especially with the lack of doctors or hospitals to go to if Logan's injury had been more serious.

"You're doing it again." Logan's voice broke through the mild haze that surrounded Kendall's mind. Kendall blinked and stared at Logan in confusion while Carlos sniggered off to the side.

"Doing what?" He asked. Logan glanced over his shoulder at Kendall and smirked.

"Being a creep," Logan teased. Kendall scoffed at that.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Suuuure," Logan drawled out. Kendall made a face at him, drawing a laugh from Logan which made him smile. Carlos watched all this and simply rolled his eyes.

'Could there be a more obvious pair of idiots?' he thought.

The next few minutes passed in a comfortable silence between the trio. Logan quickly managed to finish up the meat and had toasted the bread. He was now working on the eggs, cracking two of them on the griddle.

"Kendall, you still want them scrambled? And Carlos, you still want them sunny side up?"

"Yup."

"Yeah."

Logan nodded and cracked one more egg onto the griddle. He, James and Kendall ate them scrambled so he figured he would do theirs all at once before making Carlos'. It didn't take him long, and soon enough he was setting the plate of food down onto the table.

"Eat up," Logan said with a smile. Kendall and Carlos immediately dug in as Logan took his seat. They didn't bother to wait for James, as they knew it would probably still be a few more minute before he managed to drag himself out of bed.

"Logan," Kendall started, mouth full. Logan made a face and Kendall made one back before continuing, "what's the status on the food and water supplies?"

Logan took of bite of his eggs and frowned, knowing what he was about to say was not what Kendall wanted to hear.

"Well, with water we're doing fine, though the bottled water will probably start running out in a few months. Food wise though, we're running low now. We're gonna need to trade with one of the nearby towns again, or even go out of state. We're still able to hunt, but we need to be careful doing that so we don't overhunt any of the game in the area.

"We're also still trying to grow some of our own crops, but this area isn't the best, not to mention, none of us really know what we're doing. We're relying on the books we found in the library and bookstore but it's still a guessing game on how much we're able to grow successfully. Not to mention winter is coming, and I doubt we'll be able to keep anything alive without working greenhouses."

Kendall did not look pleased.

"How low?"

"We'll probably run out of food for the whole town in about four to five weeks," Logan replied. Kendall snarled.

"And there's nothing we can do _here_ to compensate? I don't want to have to trade with someone unless necessary. Or send out a crew to make a run in abandoned towns or cities so soon after the last disaster."

Logan frowned. "No, there isn't. Like I said, we can still hunt, but not enough to feed everyone else indefinitely. It should only be a short term, emergency situation. And we're still working on growing crops, but it's going to take time. We're gonna have to trade and start rationing the food more."

"That's not good enough!" Kendall growled before slamming his hand down on the table to emphasize his point.

Logan glared back at him, slightly hurt. "We're doing the best we can!"

"Well then do better Logan! I'm not about to let these people starve!"

"Then you're gonna have to fucking trade again or make a damn run!"

By this point they were pretty much shouting at each other and Carlos looked worried. Logan's chest was heaving and he felt tears of frustration pricking at his eyes. He hated it when they fought, which wasn't often, but lately it had been happening more and more often.

They had been friends since diapers practically. Despite being around each other nearly every day since they were babies, they were the closest of friends, and nothing got between them. Kendall had always been fiercely protective of smaller Logan, despite Logan being the older of the two. They were always there for each other too. Logan loved Kendall, more than he should, and everyday Kendall proved why Logan had fallen for him in the first place, despite being an unrepentant criminal in the making.

When everything had gone to hell Kendall had been the person that Logan knew he could turn to. Kendall had taken everything with much more composure than Logan did, and was able to keep him and quite a few other people alive in the aftermath. Despite what he was going through personally at the time.

So it was understandable to Logan that Kendall might be stressed, but that didn't mean that he could take it out on Logan. Logan might love the bastard but he wasn't about to let Kendall use him like that. He deserved better.

Kendall backed off at the sight of the Logan's wet eyes and sighed in frustration.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that and you didn't deserve it. I know you're doing the best you can. I'm just… frustrated."

Logan sighed and relaxed his tense body. He smiled sadly at Kendall and shrugged. "I know, I get it Kendall. Just… if you're frustrated, talk to me or something. Don't keep it inside until you explode."

Kendall nodded and grinned at Logan. "Deal." Logan grinned back before turning back to his food and resuming eating. Kendall did the same as Carlos glanced between the two of them before shaking his head in silent disbelief. He had been their friend for around a decade at this point and he still didn't think he'd ever get them.

The sound of footsteps out in the hall made them all turn in time to see James enter the kitchen. James stopped awkwardly in the entryway at the sight of them staring at him. He blinked in confusion before walking forward and taking a seat opposite Logan.

"Well, well, sleeping beauty finally deigns to grant us peasants with her presence," Carlos sneered at the tall brunette. James' eyes widened, hurt sliding over his features before it was quickly replaced by a confident smirk.

"I couldn't keep you guys waiting, I know how anxious you are to see me in the morning Carlos," James snarked right back. Carlos scowled at him before viciously biting into his toast. Logan rolled his eyes and shot James a small smile. James smiled back shyly, grateful.

Logan honestly didn't know why Carlos was still so rude to James. Back before the epidemic James had been the town Mayor's son, and rather wealthy as a result. He had been very popular in school and got any boy or girl he wanted. His father had also paid Kendall and his gang 'protection money,' and in return he did almost anything Kendall and Carlos needed him to, no questions asked. Including hide evidence for them and bailing a member of their gang out if, for some reason, they were stupid enough to get caught.

Despite James appearing to have the picture of a perfectly happy home life, Logan knew it hadn't been. James had confided in him when they were becoming friends that his parents more or less ignored him. And whenever his father did pay attention to him it was only to deliver scathing insults on the way James was living his life and who he was. His mother could just care less.

His parents also tended to fight, loudly, every night. They fought on a wide variety of topics (including James and how much of a disappointment he was and just whose fault that was), but also on his father's mistress. Who had lived in the house with them.

Carlos had never liked James because of his wealth and apparent holier-than-thou attitude. So when the epidemic hit and James had run to Kendall and Carlos for protection, Carlos had nearly pitched a bitch fit. James' parents had been some of the first causalities of their town, and the mistress had fled while she still could (good riddance) so James had had literally nowhere else to go if he wanted to have a chance at surviving.

Even after the past few years of living together Carlos was still unable to see past his first impressions of James. Logan knew just how hurtful the things Carlos said were for James, as, despite the verbal abuse on an almost daily basis, James had a crush on the small Latino. Logan wasn't quite sure if it would ever go anywhere, but he hoped at the very least that Carlos would be able to pull his head out of his ass soon and realize that James wasn't a bad person.

"Carlos, James, not now," Kendall warned. They both looked at Kendall, then each other, before back to their food. The tension in the room seemed to evaporate at Kendall's words and Logan sighed mentally. At least he wouldn't have to worry about a fight breaking out this morning. Those tended to get messy real quick, literally.

The next few minutes were awkwardly silent. It was only broken when Kendall stood up, plate empty, and moved to put it in the sink. "I'll be in my office," Kendall muttered before leaving the room. Logan watched him leave sadly before turning back to his (almost finished) food.

Carlos stood up a second later, also done, and placed his plate next to Kendall's in the sink. "I'm gonna get some rest," Carlos stated sleepily before following his leader upstairs.

That left James and Logan sitting at the table. They made eye contact and smiled sadly at each other before returning to their food. The silence was more comfortable between just the two of them as they finished up their individual breakfasts before heading off to do their own individual things.

* * *

Kendall sat at his desk in his office and stared blankly out the window in front of him. The paperwork he was supposed to be looking over was laid out on the desk in front of him, unread. Sometimes it was hard for him to believe that he was in the position he was in. The only consolation he had was that the old bastards that constantly scorned him would be rolling in their graves right now. He smirked a bit at that thought.

It had been a simple enough choice to take over the town and keep things in order once everything started to go to hell. This was his home, and he hadn't been about to let it become overrun with even more assholes. It already had enough of them thank you very much, god forbid one of them decided to try to become their 'ruler.'

Plus, Kendall and his crew were easily able to keep everyone _safe_, ironically enough. Only a few people had tried to 'take over' once Kendall took charge. Most of them out of towners who had stopped there for safe haven once things seemed to finally calm down a bit and people could start trying to survive in the aftermath.

Kendall had easily taken care of them. Since then things had fallen into a sort of rhythm that the town followed easily enough. Despite the epidemic itself being over, there were still dangers. The most prominent being the chem-heads, the ones who were driven homicidally insane by the drug.

Most people tried to avoid them instead of killing them off, to avoid possible infection. Unfortunately that didn't really solve the problem, and they tended to roam from place to place. Normally they were alone, but sometimes they formed packs, which was worse. Packs were near unstoppable, and the moment someone saw one they ran the other way and prayed they hadn't been seen.

If you _had_ been seen… well, at least it was usually over quick. If you were lucky.

After the chem-heads were scavengers, people who had lost their homes and families. They tended to stay near roads or towns were people still lived and stole what they needed to survive. Plenty of gangs had cropped up as well, some taking over towns like Kendall's had. Others took the same route as the scavengers (but to a more extreme level) and claimed roads and highways, ambushing travelers and stealing everything they had before killing them.

Kendall had heard rumors that some of them had become cannibals, but if that was true none of them were nearby, so Kendall didn't put too much stock in that rumor.

The hardest part though was finding ways to keep everyone that was depending on him fed and warm in the winter, which was coming quickly. Food was slowly running out, and they were having to trade with nearby towns and cities more often, which Kendall hated to do.

Hunting was fine, but they ran the risk of overhunting. And with winter coming, it would be even harder for Logan to grow things without having a working greenhouse. However, with more or less no electricity that would be near impossible. They were lucky that they were able to keep the water running, but even that was on a tightly watched schedule, which would likely be cut soon. It was a miracle they had managed to keep it going as long as they had.

Now he needed to figure out how he was going to make the food they had for the town last, as he _really_ didn't want to trade with some of the neighboring towns if he could help it. Assholes they were, the lot of them.

Kendall worked silently for a few hours, the early morning sun shining brightly outside the window. The house was quiet, neither Logan nor James making too much noise. Probably in respect to Carlos, who would be catching up on his sleep.

That silence was soon disturbed by a loud, obnoxious knocking on the front door. Kendall's eyes narrowed and he glanced at his watch. It was barely nine in the morning. Kendall heard someone pad lightly past his office, presumably to go open the door. Kendall waited, knowing that regardless of who it was for, whoever opened the door would tell him what was going on.

"Kendall?" a light knock at the door. Kendall's quirked a brow at Logan's uncharacteristic hesitance.

"Come in!" he called out. The door opened slowly, Logan's head peeking around the corner a second later.

"The door's for me?" he guessed. Logan nodded and Kendall sighed.

"Who is it?"

"It's Dak. He didn't say what it was about, just that it was important and you and Carlos were needed. Do you want me to go wake him up?"

"Please," Kendall sighed, standing up. Logan nodded and retreated. Kendall quickly made his way from the room and down the stairs to the front door. Dak stood framed in the open doorway, looking inwards but not stepping inside. Dak nodded at him as he appeared and Kendall nodded back.

"What's this about?" Kendal enquired. Dak looked grim, which meant it was not good news. Kendall hated bad news. The only consolation was that whatever it was couldn't be world-ending. That had already happened once.

"There was a break in," Dak announced. Kendall's eyes narrowed.

"Where?" he demanded.

"Main Street."

Which pretty much said everything right there. Kendall growled. He heard footstep coming down the stairs and turned to see Carlos and Logan. Logan was carrying Kendall's guns and knife in his hands awkwardly. Carlos was holstering his own gun, looking slightly out of it, but aware enough to handle a fight.

"What's happened?" Logan asked, seeing the expression on Kendall's face.

"Break in, on Main," Kendall said shortly. Logan's eye widened and Carlos cursed.

"Guess it's a good thing I brought these then," Logan said weakly. Kendall snorted and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks." Logan only nodded and handed the weapons over, along with Kendall's gun harness, which he hadn't noticed Logan carrying. Kendall quickly got himself together before looking over at Logan.

"You still have that gun I gave you?" Logan gulped before nodding.

"You remember how to shoot it?" another weak nod.

"Good. Go get it and keep it on you. I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to risk anything. Go get James and stay together as well. I'll send someone back to look out for you guys when I get there. I don't want either of you leaving the house today, got it?" Logan nodded again.

"Be careful?" he asked, looking at both of them. They both smirked.

"When are we not?" Kendall replied. Logan chuckled and shook his head.

"Right, of course. Silly me."

"I'll send someone with updates every once in a while so you don't have to worry, okay?" Logan nodded, looking relieved. Kendall shook his head.

"Good. Now I'll see you later, okay?" He didn't wait for a response before turning and walking out of the house. He heard Carlos and Dak following him after saying goodbye to Logan. They caught up a second later and the three of them started walking towards Main Street.

"What happened?" Kendall asked once they were a street or two away from the house.

"Well things were quiet last night, as I'm sure Carlos told you, no one heard anything. I was doing my last rounds before I switched out with Lucy and I hit Main Street last. Since it had been quiet I wasn't expecting to find anything, right?

"No. Three places had their front door muscled open. I called for the others and we swept them, to make sure no one was still there. As soon as we determined they were empty we secured them and I came to find you."

"Which three places?"

"The clinic, the bookstore, and what used to be the bank." Kendall stopped short at that last one.

"The _bank_? What possible use could they have for that? Money is useless." Dak shrugged.

"I'm as clueless as you are. Anyway, they were long gone by the time we got there, the places trashed. We're not sure if they got what they were looking for or not. I have Luke and Jim doing inventory on the clinic, Jordan and Carly doing inventory on the bookstore and I had Joe do a closer inspection of the bank. We should hopefully find out if anything was taken by tomorrow. Logan would probably be able to tell us quicker though," Dak added, shooting a look at Kendall.

Kendall glared at him. "Not happenin'," he growled. Dak backed off, hands up.

"Understood."

Kendall glared at him for a second longer before turning his attention forward again. Carlos and Dak exchanged looks behind Kendall's back, both of them thinking the same thing.

'He's so obvious.'

"If you two are done, let's continue on, yes?" Kendall drawled as he glanced over his shoulder. Carlos and Dak immediately looked forward, faux innocent expressions on their faces.

"I don't know what you're talking about Kendall," Carlos said. Kendall rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He stalked forward again, Dak and Carlos trying to control their laughter as they followed after him.

Main Street was about a ten minute walk from the house that Kendall, Carlos, James and Logan were living in. It only took the trio a few more minutes to make it there. Kendall could immediately see which places had been broken into, even from down the street.

There were a few people lingering off to the side, obviously wanting to know what was going on, but Kendall could see Lucy was taking care of it.

"Carlos," Kendall started, but the shorter male interrupted him.

"I'll make sure to send some people out to inform everyone there'll be a town meeting tomorrow. Unless you wanted to hold it today?"

Kendall smiled a little, remembering why Carlos was his second. "No, tomorrow is fine. At ten." Carlos nodded and turned to Dak.

"You got that?" Dak nodded. "Good. Get anyone who isn't busy on it. And make sure that everyone knows to stay inside today, we want _no one_ out on the streets. If they're caught outside, they know the consequences."

Dak nodded and ran off to do as told. Carlos and Kendall made their way down the street, stopping in front of the Bank first. Kendall glanced inside and noted the disarray. Carlos whistled at the destruction found inside. It was rather impressive.

"Kendall," someone called. Kendall turned around to see Lucy walking towards him.

"Anything yet?" Lucy shook her head, a frustrated look on her face.

"No, nothing. The clinic is the only logical place we can figure they hit. First aid, ya know?" Kendall nodded.

"So we figure we'd probably find some things missing from there. And the bookstore might have some uses too, books on survival and first aid, again, all that crap. The bank however, no one can figure out."

Kendall nodded and glanced at Carlos. The two of them exchanged a look. "What I want to know right now," Kendall started, "is how they got inside in the first place." His eyes narrowed on Lucy, who looked nervous.

"We, ah, we haven't figured that out yet."

"Then what are you still standing here for?" Carlos spoke up. Lucy's eyes shot over to him before she nodded. She left quickly, leaving Kendall and Carlos alone.

"So what do you think?" Carlos broke the silence. Kendal blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"I think this doesn't make sense." Carlos nodded.

"Should we search the homes tomorrow during the town meeting?"

Kendall nodded. "Just to be safe. My gut says that it wasn't anyone here, but if it wasn't, then _how_ did they manage to do this without getting caught? At the same time though, the people here would know that the bookstore and bank would be useless. And that if they needed first aid it would be simple enough to put in a request."

"Whoever it is could be getting help from someone on the inside," Carlos pointed out. Kendall nodded.

"But there's that too. Still, none of this makes any sense." Carlos silently agreed.

"Who do you want to send back to Logan and James?" Kendall tilted his head, considering.

"Send Lucy, and go take over for her. Make sure that everyone has checked in and given their whereabouts for last night, early this morning. Keep the patrol up as well, but randomize it. We'll come up with a new, permanent solution tonight." Carlos nodded.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

Kendall glanced behind him towards the bank before turning back to Carlos. "I'm gonna try to figure out what the hell they wanted."

* * *

Kendall stepped into the bank and looked around. He and Joe were the only people in there, everyone else focusing on the other places.

"'Sup boss?" Joe greeted. Kendall nodded back as he hopped over the counter separating the lobby from where the employees would be.

"Got anything?"

Joe grinned. "I do, actually."

"Really?" Kendall was skeptical. Joe pouted at him dramatically.

"Blow to my ego boss, blow to my ego." Kendall rolled his eyes.

"You'll get over it." Joe grinned, wide and slightly insane.

"Duh. Anyway, what I found out. I didn't find anything up here, but when we go into the bank's vault, it's a whole other story." Joe turned around and gestured for Kendall to follow. Joe led him back out into the lobby area before heading down a side hallway near the offices. They took the stairs down to the lower level before they found themselves in front of the vault.

The door was standing open, obviously forced. Kendall whistled and walked forward, inspecting the damage.

"How did they manage to break in like this? And how did no one notice they were? This would have taken time, that door is at least two feet thick and made of steel."

Joe nodded and moved closer, inspecting the damage with him. "I couldn't tell you. I don't really know much about bank vaults or their doors, but maybe whoever did this idid/i know about vault doors. This room is nearly soundproof, so if they had used some sort of low-grade explosives to open it there's no guarantee that someone would have heard it."

"Or they did," Kendall muttered, eyes narrowing as he spotted what looked like scorch marks. Joe's eye widened at that.

"You think that -?"

"I don't know what to think, but we're gonna find out," Kendall interrupted. Joe nodded and swallowed, looking scared.

"I didn't, I wouldn't, just so you know," he choked out. Kendall glanced at him and smirked.

"I know Joe." Joe looked relieved at that before grinning at him and motioning inside the vault.

"Anyway, the interesting part is inside."

They stepped into the vault and it took Kendall a minute to see what Joe was talking about. Quite a few of the safety deposit boxes had been opened, many of them forced. However there were a few that stood out.

"They had keys," he whispered. Joe nodded and bounced on his heels a bit.

"Yeah. So that means that they definitely knew what they were looking for. And that they either used to live here, or knew someone who used to live here and knew what they kept here. Plus, there's still the possibility that, you know…" Joe trailed off but he didn't need to finish.

It was still possible that there was someone from inside helping them. Someone who might be a member of the gang.

"Let's keep that between us for now, okay?" Kendall asked blandly. There was a very real threat hiding behind the statement though, which Joe caught immediately. He nodded wildly, eyes wide.

"Of course!" he squeaked.

"Good. Is there any way to find out who these belonged to?" Kendall questioned. Joe frowned and looked around.

"Usually that information is kept electronically in a database. So unless we can get electricity in here and I can figure out what the bank manager's passwords are, then probably not. Some places also kept hard copies though, but those would likely be locked up or hidden somewhere. If there is a hard copy somewhere it would take me time to find."

Kendall nodded, thinking. "Try to find them, if you can. I remember the manager of this bank; he went to the same church as my mom used to go to. He didn't trust electronics. So chances are he had a hard copy of everything somewhere."

Joe nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Then he probably had a personal safe somewhere. I don't know much about safe cracking, but I think there were a few books on it next door."

"I'll get them for you. Just start looking for the safe, or safes. The guy was a paranoid bastard. Don't tell anyone what you're doing either. Keep working here and try to see if you can find anything else as well."

"Of course," Joe nodded obediently.

"Good. I'll be back with those books." Kendall turned on his heel and left quickly. Being under the bank and in the vault made him feel a bit claustrophobic and he couldn't wait to get out of there.

Stepping onto the street he was met with a cool breeze. He looked up and saw that the sky was starting to darken a bit with clouds. He frowned at that. He didn't want to have to deal with a storm on top of everything as well.

He looked down the street to see that the people from earlier were gone. Everyone else was inside, except for the people that would be patrolling. Hopefully they would notice the weather and take the necessary precautions to avoid getting sick. They couldn't afford to have anyone sick right now.

He made his way into the bookstore and saw Jordan and Carly bent over something on the check-out counter.

"Anything?" he asked. The two of them jumped in surprise, eyes wide. Kendall smirked at their expressions, resisting the urge to laugh.

"Jesus boss! Make some noise why don't'cha?" Jordan exclaimed.

"But then were would be the fun in that?" he questioned. Carly snorted before smacking Jordan on the arm.

"Don't be so dramatic babe." Jordan rolled his eyes at her.

"Don't be so dramatic~" he mocked. Carly narrowed her eyes and he mirrored the expression. Kendall sighed.

"I don't have time for this right now guys," he reminded them. They snapped back to attention, looking sheepish.

"Right, sorry boss," the two of them muttered.

"So do you have anything?" he prodded. They exchanged glances before Jordan took over.

"Well, we glanced through the survival and first aid section and were able to tell at first look that there were some books missing. Not many though. However as you can see, they tore through the whole store, not just that section, so we think they probably took more and are trying to hide something."

Carly picked up, "So we went to get the store's inventory as of the time the epidemic hit. We crossed off the ones we already knew were gone, as we had taken them from the store already. We figure we'll go through the store and use the list to see if anything else is missing, which we're betting on."

Kendall nodded, his expression thoughtful as he looked at the store. It was a mess, with books and papers strewn everywhere.

"I'm going to take a look. Plus, Logan's been buggin' me about new reading material, especially for the plants that they're trying to grow. Now's as good a time as any I guess."

Carly and Jordan exchanged glances at that, both of them trying to hide their smirks behind Kendall's back.

"Of course boss. Just let us know what you're taking when you leave so we can mark it off."

Kendall nodded absently before walking forward, making sure to grab one of those heavy, re-usable, bio-degradable bags that the store had started selling so people wouldn't have to rely on plastic bags all the time.

He made his way carefully through the store, trying to remember where he had seen the books on safe-cracking. He searched through the store for a few minutes before he managed to find the section. He narrowed his eyes, noticing that there seemed to be a few missing.

'Interesting,' he mused, picking a few at random and throwing them into the bag. He quickly made his way to the plant and garden section, grabbing a few more before walking through the store and grabbing a few books that he thought Logan might like.

"Done?" Jordan questioned as Kendall made his way back to the front of the store. Kendall nodded and grabbed the list from them. He crossed a few of the names off before looking up at them.

"It's probably going to storm soon. If you guys are going to be here all day I suggest finding some flashlights and candles ahead of time. And you should probably get someone to bring you some food. Looks like you have long day ahead of you."

The other two nodded gratefully and Kendall quickly exited. The sky had just gotten darker while he was in there, and Kendall could practically feel the lighting cracking through the air.

"Kendall!"

He looked to his right and saw Carlos walking down the street towards him. He waited just outside the bank for Carlos to get close.

"Hey, everything good?" Carlos nodded and glanced up at the sky.

"Yeah, I got them doing new patrol routes and switched the members up as well. I also made sure that they were covered up and had umbrellas in case it rained."

Kendall nodded. "Good, good. Let me drop these off and then we can fill you in."

Carlos blinked in surprise but followed Kendall into the bank.

"Yo Joe! Where you at?"

"Back here!" the yell echoed back from the office area. Kendall and Carlos followed Joe's voice and found him holed up in the bank manager's old office. He glanced up as they stepped into the spacious office and grinned.

"Hey boss, you got those books?" Kendall threw him the bag in response. Joe let out a surprised 'oomph' as he caught it, eyes bugging a bit.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said delicately, placing the bag next to him on the floor before pulling the safe-cracking books out and leaving the others. "Anyway, I found the safe. Actually, make that plural. You were right, there was more than one. Guy was paranoid." Joe shook his head sadly.

Carlos glanced between Kendall and Joe, confused. "Okay, is someone planning on filling me in anytime soon?"

Kendall glanced at Carlos while Joe started to sift through the books that Kendall had brought him.

"Turns out that they did have a reason to hit the bank. The bank vault was broken into, as well as a few random bank boxes, in an attempt to mask the fact that they were after a few specific boxes, that they had keys to."

Carlos' eyes widened as the implication of what Kendall was saying sunk in.

"I'm starting to think that the clinic and bookstore were secondary. I'm sure they needed whatever they got from there, but I'm betting that the bank was the main hit. This one took the longest, and the most planning. They also took some books on safe-cracking from the bookstore as well, so it's possible that they plan on coming back."

Joe looked up at that, alarmed. "What? Do you think they're planning on coming back for the same thing we're looking for?"

Kendall shrugged. "It's possible, but it could be anything at this point. It might not even be a safe in the bank, but in one of the homes, like James' old home," Kendall pointed out. Carlos scowled briefly at the mention of James' name but his face smoothed out a second later.

"You guys are looking for the owners of the boxes that were broken into?" Joe nodded as he flipped through one of the books, expression thoughtful.

"How long do you think it'll take you to crack into the safes?" Kendall questioned. Joe shrugged and opened another book.

"I can't say for certain. The books will definitely be helpful, but I'll need to make a run to the hardware store to get a few things. Hopefully I should have them open by the end of the night though."

Kendall nodded. "When you get them open bring all the paperwork to our house, I'll get Logan and James to go through it. It's probably gonna start storming soon too, so pick up some candles and a flashlight if you can while you're out."

Joe saluted mockingly. "Yes sir."

Kendall snorted. "We'll see you later. Try not to take too long outside; I don't want you to leave this place unsupervised for very long." Kendall moved forward and picked up the bag of books, now only containing the ones meant for Logan.

Joe nodded and went back to reading one of the books. Kendall rolled his eyes before motioning for Carlos to follow him out. They briefly stopped by the clinic which was in much less disarray than the other two places hit. Jim and Luke had the same news as Jordan and Carly though. Things had definitely been taken but they'd need more time before they could figure out what exactly.

Kendall and Carlos walked back to the house in silence after that, both of them mulling over what they discovered.

* * *

"Do you think they're okay?" James asked anxiously. Logan glanced at him and shrugged.

"I'm sure they're fine. It was just a break-in, right?" James nodded but continued to look a bit apprehensive. Logan sighed.

"James, remember, this is _Kendall_ and _Carlos_ we're talking about. If anything happens, they'll be fine."

James frowned but nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am," Logan smirked. "This is me we're talking about. I'm always right."

That drew a startled laugh from James, making Logan smile.

"And here I was thinking _I_ was the conceited one," James teased. Logan (very maturely) stuck his tongue out in response. The two of them started to laugh hysterically and the tense atmosphere that had been surrounding them evaporated in an instant.

Until there was a knock at the door. Both of them tensed up again, Logan's hand drifting to hover over the gun lying innocuously next to him on the table.

"It's probably just the person Kendall sent back to watch us," Logan whispered. James nodded in agreement. There was another knock and Logan gripped the gun in his hand before standing up.

They were in the kitchen slash dining room, which was just off to the side of the door. The heavy blinds and curtains over the window prevented anyone from looking in though.

"Who is it?" Logan called out, slowly bringing the gun up and holding it steadily in front of him.

"It's Lucy you losers, now let me in!"

Both Logan and James sighed in relief at that. They glanced at each other before grinning a bit. Logan let his arm fall and hang limply beside him as he moved forward and opened the door. Lucy stood outside looking frustrated.

She quirked a brow at him, her eyes drifting down to glance at the gun held in his hand. She snorted before pushing into the house. "Do you even know how to use that thing?" she questioned.

Logan frowned as he closed the door behind her and locked it firmly. "I do, actually. Kendall taught me."

Lucy looked impressed. "Kendall actually taught someone how to shoot?" Logan nodded. Lucy gave him a once over before smirking.

"I really shouldn't be that surprised that he'd teach you to shoot now that I think about it." James muffled a laugh from the kitchen table and Lucy shot him a smirk over her shoulder. Logan made a face, feeling left out.

"What are you talking about?" Lucy rolled her eyes before shooting him a look of disbelief.

"Please, it's so obvious." Logan blinked, still confused.

"What is?"

"That Kendall's crazy about you? Duh. Seriously, the boy would do anything for you if you asked."

Logan's eyes widened and he shook his head rapidly. "N-no! Kendall, I, we, how – why would you think that?!" Logan spluttered.

Lucy gave him a blank stare before turning to look at James. "Is he serious?" she asked. James nodded, looking amused by the situation.

Lucy turned back to Logan. "Trust me, Kendall is gaga over you, it's kinda disgusting actually. Even if the poor boy doesn't realize it yet, he is."

Logan just continued to shake his head, unwilling to believe what Lucy was telling him and get his hopes up. He wouldn't be able to take the rejection, and he wasn't willing to risk losing Kendall as a friend.

"You're wrong," he said firmly. Lucy just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, it's not my problem. Now, I'm going to go sit over there, and you two will be quiet, okay?" she gave them both looks that promised pain if they disagreed. James and Logan immediately nodded. Lucy smirked.

"Good." Then she turned on her heel and walked into the living room before plopping down onto their old, slightly uncomfortable couch.

Logan and James exchanged looks, both of them thinking the same thing.

This was going to be a long day.


	2. Part 2

So I forgot to post notes on the first chapter, so just in case I'll post it here as well. I wrote this for the BTR Big Bang over at Livejournal. I've already posted this story in its entirety on AO3 but I'm posting it here as well. The third part should be up tomorrow probably. This story has Kogan, Jarlos, Jagan!bromance and Kenlos!bromance. I hope you guys enjoy :)

* * *

When Kendall and Carlos got back it was mid-afternoon. Logan, James and Lucy sat in the living room. Logan was reading a book (for the fifth time), James was daydreaming and Lucy was cleaning one of her guns. The sound of the door opening drew them out of the silent stupor they had been trapped in for the past hour or so.

They glanced up to see Kendall and Carlos stepping through the door, somber looks on their faces. Lucy stood up immediately, but Kendall barely glanced at her.

"You can go now," Kendall said shortly. Lucy nodded and immediately left without a second glance at the duo on the couch. Carlos closed and locked the door behind her while Kendall collapsed on the couch next to Logan and dropped the bag he had been carrying onto the floor next to him.

Logan exchanged looks with James before laying a hand cautiously on Kendall's shoulder.

"What happened?" he murmured. Kendall grunted and opened his eyes.

"Confusing shit."

Logan's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Um, clarification?" he glanced at Carlos then back to Kendall while James echoed the sentiment behind him.

Kendall frowned and Logan squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"There were three break-ins early this morning. The clinic, the bookstore, and the bank." Kendall's tone was light, as if he were talking about the weather instead of something that used to be viewed as a felony.

Logan blinked in confusion and he could feel the same emotion coming from James. "Wait, did you say the _bank_?"

"Yeah, he did," Carlos spoke up from his spot atop the coffee table. Logan looked at Carlos then, expression incredulous.

"But the banks useless! What could they have possibly wanted with money?"

Carlos and Kendall exchanged looks then and Logan knew that he had missed something.

"They weren't after money, were they?"

Logan, Carlos and Kendall looked at James with wide eyes. James stared back at them utterly serious. Slowly, Carlos and Kendall nodded and Logan gapped.

"How could you have possibly known that?" he sputtered to James. James shot him an indignant look.

"I'm perfectly capable of deducing things you know. I'm not a total idiot!" James frowned at them and Logan felt bad.

"We don't think you are James-"

"Speak for yourself," Carlos muttered. Logan shot him a glare and Carlos shrugged. James just sighed before gesturing for Logan to continue.

"We _don't_ think you're an idiot James, we were just surprised since you normally don't… contribute to these conversations." Carlos snorted and Logan resisted the urge to smack his friend upside his face.

Kendall had no such reservations however and lashed out with his leg and kicked Carlos in the thigh. Carlos yelped and clutched at the wounded area while Kendall glared at him.

"Behave," he hissed. Carlos scowled but nodded. James watched the exchange with sad eyes and Logan wanted to hug him. He didn't though, knowing that James would just reject the gesture while in front of Carlos.

James turned his attention back to Logan then and grinned wryly.

"Yes, but banks and money are something that I know pretty well. Banks don't just hold money in them. People store valuables there too. Father considered doing the same here at one point but in the end decided he'd rather be able to see the safe holding his valuables everyday so he never did."

James shrugged like it was nothing before turning his attention to Kendall. "I'm assuming they broke into the bank vault and the deposit boxes inside?"

Kendall nodded silently and James smiled that same wry smile as he turned his attention back to an incredulous Logan.

"Not that hard to figure out really."

Logan shook his head and laughed a bit. Kendall stared hard at James for a second before nodding.

"That's exactly what they did. They also took some books on safe-cracking from the bookstore, so we think they might be planning on coming back."

Logan nodded. It made sense. Then something registered and he frowned.

"Aren't bank vault doors made out of thick steel or something though? How did they manage to break into the vault before anyone noticed?"

Kendall and Carlos exchanged a look and Logan's eyes widened as he realized the implications.

"You think someone from inside the town is helping them. Possibly someone from the gang," he breathed out. Kendall and Carlos nodded and James inhaled sharply beside him.

"We think it's probably more than one person but yes, at least one of our members has to be involved," Kendall admitted. Logan could see the rage in Kendall's eyes at the thought of one of their own betraying them like this.

Whoever it ended up being, Logan wouldn't want to be them. Kendall looked ipissed/i. The person, whoever they were, wouldn't stand a chance. As soon as Kendall found out who they were they would be dead.

That is, if they were lucky. And Logan didn't think they'd be that lucky.

"We're holding a town meeting tomorrow and searching everyone's homes while it's taking place." Carlos picked up once he realized Kendall was too pissed to continue speaking.

Both James and Logan nodded, able to see how that would be the easiest course of action.

"How do you know what you're looking for though?" James questioned. Carlos' face soured but he answered the question.

"We don't, but hopefully we'll find _something_ that might link one or more of them to whoever is behind this."

The face he made said he clearly wasn't happy about the fact that they had nothing to go on but there wasn't much they could do about that.

"Hey Logan?" Kendall finally spoke up. Logan glanced over and Kendall's eyes drifted over to lock on his.

"Tomorrow, during the meeting… keep an eye on people for me, okay? Watch their reactions to everything." Logan blinked but nodded.

"What makes you think I'd be able to spot anything?"

Kendall just grinned and shrugged but didn't answer. Logan frowned but let it go, deciding to trust Kendall's judgment that he'd be able to do this.

"Oh yeah, and here," Kendall spoke up. He grabbed the bag beside the couch and handed it to Logan. Logan shot him a confused look before glancing into the bag. His eyes lit up immediately and a wide grin spread across his face.

"Kendall!"

Logan dropped the bag on the floor and lunged at Kendall. Kendall caught him clumsily, the angle awkward, but Logan didn't care. He wrapped himself around Kendall as best as possible and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you!"

Kendall flushed a bit, not expecting the enthusiastic response. He wrapped his arms around Logan in return and tried to return the hug as best as possible.

"It's no problem Logan. I needed to get some books for Joe anyway, he's working in the bank to get the deposit box information for me so I figured I'd pick some things up for you as well."

Logan pulled back, though he left his arms around Kendall's neck, and beamed at his friend.

"Still, thank you," he said sincerely. Kendall just shrugged before flashing a grin back to Logan.

"You're welcome."

Logan pulled back before diving for the bag of books. He started to go through them, muttering under his breath as he did so. Kendall looked up from watching Logan to see Carlos and James both giving him strange looks.

He narrowed his eyes at them and they immediately turned away, though not before he saw the grins on their faces. He scowled before looking at the boarded up window and remembering the weather outside.

"It looks like it might storm today, so get some candles ready just in case. It shouldn't be too bad hopefully," Kendall spoke up. Logan made a noise signaling he heard him and James nodded.

"What are you guys going to do the rest of the day?" James asked. Carlos ignored him and Kendall rolled his eyes.

"We'll probably be up in my office the rest of the day, so if you and Logan need us we'll be there. Try not to need us though, okay?"

James nodded and Logan was buried in one of the books, ignoring them. Kendall chuckled before standing up. Carlos followed and James waved sarcastically as they left to head upstairs. He glanced at Logan once the two were out of site and knew he wouldn't get anything out of the older boy while he had a book in his hand.

He flopped back on the couch and sighed.

Now what was he going to do?

* * *

Logan and James sat in the front of the stage in the town hall building. Kendall, Carlos, and a few other people were up on the stage talking quietly to each other. The rest of the 'civilians' were still filing into the hall, escorted in by some of Kendall's men.

There were just over 100 people in the small town left, and around 70 of them were normal civilians. They were just normal towns folk before, who now relied on Kendall and his gang to get them from one day to the next. Someone they had shunned and spat on since he was a kid. The irony was not lost on any of them and they were all grateful that Kendall hadn't simply turned his back on them all.

Logan watched as Carlos whispered something to Kendall, face serious. Kendall was nodding along before replying and shooting a look out at the audience, which was almost completely filled by this point. Logan caught his eye and smiled a little. Kendall eyed him for a moment before shooting him a small smile in return.

His attention returned to Carlos a moment later and James nudged Logan in the side. Logan winced (James had pointy elbows) and shot James a look of confusion.

"What was that for?" he whispered.

James just smirked and nodded his head in the direction of the stage. Logan caught on immediately and rolled his eyes. He reached over casually and slammed the back of his hand into James' stomach. James gasped loudly and doubled over, hands clenching at the abused area.

Logan bit his lip to keep from laughing. James turned his head to the side enough to shoot Logan a narrow eyed glare that promised retribution. Logan smirked and quirked a brow.

'Bring it!' his expression screamed. James scowled and opened his mouth to say something when the doors slammed shut. Logan immediately looked up to the stage to see Kendall standing in front of the podium. He was watching everyone with a cool gaze, body alert.

Logan immediately sat up straight in his seat, James doing the same beside him. The low hum of many people talking slowly died out as everyone turned their attention to the front. Kendall waited until everyone was quiet before speaking.

"You all have heard about what happened." It wasn't a question. People shifted nervously in their seats at Kendall's opening statement, some of them eyeing each other with suspicion. Apparently some of them had managed to come to the same conclusions that Kendall had. Though it was unlikely they came to those conclusions for the same reasons.

Kendall continued, "We have the situation under control, however, until it can be… idealt with/i," Kendall paused and smirked, eyes dark and bloodthirsty, leaving no one guessing just how they'd be dealt with, "the town will be on lockdown until further notice."

The people started to murmur amongst themselves. Logan took the time to glance around and watch people's reactions as best he could like Kendall had asked him to. Most people seemed to be afraid, shocked, nervous, uncomprehending… normal reactions.

Kendall went on to tell everyone what restrictions and new rules would be in place during the lockdown and how they believed the people would be coming back. How he wanted everyone to keep an eye out. Logan kept scanning the crowd and saw a couple people whose reactions bothered him. They seemed… forced. Fake.

Logan turned his attention back to the stage, scanning the remaining gang members that weren't spread throughout the room, on patrol, or checking the houses. His eyes narrowed on them, standing in a line behind Kendall and looking alert.

He frowned, something bothering him as he looked at them, but he couldn't quite figure it out. There was something… wrong.

He caught Kendall's eye as the other man opened his mouth to speak. They locked eyes for a second, Logan attempting to convey that something was wrong. Something else took care of that for him though.

The sound of gunfire from outside drew screams and panic from the people inside. Kendall immediately began shouting out orders to his followers before turning his attention back to the people. He snarled as they continued to panic.

"Shut the _fuck_ up!" he yelled. Instant quiet. People turned wide eyed gazes to him, waiting for instruction. Kendall's lip curled in disgust.

"You all will stay here, and stay _quiet_, am I understood?" they all nodded.

"Good," Kendall said. "Now, a few of us will go check it out, everyone else will stay here. No one is to leave this room until I get back, got it?" there were sounds of agreement scattered throughout the room. Kendall snorted.

"_Awesome_. Carlos, Liam, Lucy, Rafael and Carly, with me. Everyone else, stay here."

Logan and James shot up as Kendall and the five people he had called off started to run out of the room.

"Let's go," Logan murmured. James nodded and they quickly ran after them. They slipped out of the room before anyone noticed and jogged along behind Kendall and everyone else. When Kendall glanced back to make sure everyone was following he skidded to a stop and did a double take at seeing Logan and James.

"I don't have time for this," he groaned. Logan stood his ground and shot him a defiant glare in response. Kendall ran a hand through his hair and growled.

"Fine, damnit, whatever, but you two will do _exactly_ as I say or I swear to god I'll kill you both myself, got it?" Logan and James immediately nodded.

"Then stick close and don't wander off," Kendall ordered. Logan and James immediately nodded again. Carlos was scowling at James, a dark look on his face. He looked like he wanted to protest but he kept his mouth shut.

"Come on then."

They took off again, heading towards Main Street where the shots had echoed from. Main Street and the street the town hall meeting house were on intersected so it wasn't a long run, and within a minute or two they were there.

Immediately they could see bodies sprawled across the road about half a mile down. One of them was still moving, while two others seemed to be deadly still. Logan's eyes widened and he sped up, Kendall right beside him.

Logan skidded to a stop next to the body that was still moving. He kneeled down next to them and located the bullet wound near their right pectoral. Logan's lips pressed tightly together as he applied pressure to the wound to try to stop the bleeding.

"It's Jimmy," Kendall said somewhere behind him. Logan's eyes flickered to the side before settling back on the guy on the ground. He knew Jimmy. Not well, but enough to know he was a good guy at heart. And now he was dead.

Logan's eyes narrowed as everyone else caught up. James was white as a sheet at the sight of the blood and dead bodies. Carlos immediately joined Kendall next to Jimmy's body while the others started scanning for any sign of the intruders.

"Logan, talk to me!" Kendall snapped out. Logan gritted his teeth and lifted one hand to press against the guys neck. He found the pulse point quickly enough. The guys pulse was weak and thready. The guy was also wheezing as he breathed, as if he couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs. Logan glanced backwards as he moved his hand back to its former position.

"He'll be gone in minutes, if he's lucky. I think the bullet probably tore one of his lungs. Coupled with the blood loss, he's already dead. Now it's just a waiting game."

"I can work with that," Kendall growled. He stalked over to Logan and kneeled down next to the older male. Kendall reached out and firmly slapped the guy.

"Wake up," Kendall growled. The guy flinched, head lolling awkwardly, but he didn't wake. Kendall slapped him again and the guy's eyes fluttered. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open and a pained gasp escaped him a second later. His mouth opened as wide as his eyes were but Kendall slapped a hand over his mouth and glared.

"No, don't scream, that'll just piss me off." The guy's eyes focused on Kendall blankly for a second before recognition filtered in. Fear filled them next and Logan could feel Kendall's satisfaction radiating off of him at that.

"Now tell me, what do you bastards want?"

Kendall lifted his hand from the guy's mouth to allow him to talk. His eyes flicked between Logan and Kendall rapidly, as if trying to decide who would be more sympathetic. Kendall scowled and looked at Logan pointedly. Logan frowned, uncomfortable with what Kendall was asking him to do. Kendall glared and Logan bit the inside of his cheek to keep from cussing at him.

He turned his attention back to the guy on the ground before blanking his face of all emotion. Then he leaned on the guys wound, digging his fingers in painfully. The guy cried out in pain but Logan didn't let up until the guy bit his lip and started whimpering.

"He asked you a question," Logan stated blandly, as if doing this wasn't bothering him. The guy whimpered again before starting to talk weakly, voice coming out light and breathy and slightly hard to understand as blood filled his lungs.

"B-boss ha-has a mess'ge for ya." Kendall and Logan glanced at each other before turning their attention back.

"What's the message?" Kendall demanded. The guy's lips curled into a weak imitation of a smirk.

"M-meet 'im to-tomorrow ou'side th' bor-border. Wans ta ta-talk ta ya hisself," the man's voice was growing weaker and Logan could feel the guy's heart stuttering in his chest.

"Kendall," Logan warned. Kendall nodded in understanding.

"When does he want to meet?"

The guy's eyes locked on Kendall's own, though they kept going in and out of focus and slipping past him.

"A' n-noon."

Kendall nodded before standing up and drawing his gun out of its holster. Logan pulled his hands back from the guy's chest and averted his eyes. A second later a shot rang out and Logan winced. He glanced back to see a bullet sized hole now being sported in the guy's forehead. He swallowed and resisted the urge to vomit.

Kendall turned his attention back to the people who had come with them. Logan had forgotten they were even there. His eyes sought out James and he was unsurprised to see him kneeling off to the side, a puddle of sick beneath him. Logan sighed and frowned sympathetically.

Kendall was already snapping orders to everyone else as Logan slowly stood up and made his way over to James. He kneeled down next to the tall brunette and wrinkled his nose at the smell of the puke.

"How ya doing?" James groaned in response before glancing up at him.

"How do you think?" James snapped. Then he saw something on Logan that made his eyes widen again before he snapped his head forward and got sick all over again. Logan frowned and looked down before realizing what set James off again.

He was covered in blood and looked like a horror movie victim. He sighed and held his hands out in front of him.

"Sorry, I forgot," he apologized. James waved it off before clamping a hand over his mouth.

"It-it's fine just… get rid of it? Please?" Logan nodded and stood up. He made his way over to Kendall who was standing and talking with Carlos in hushed whispers.

"Hey Kendall?" Kendall glanced up and took Logan in. Kendall's eyebrow quirked as he got a good look at Logan, just now realizing apparently how blood drenched he was.

"Damn Logan," he whistled. Logan rolled his eyes, still a bit pissed at the taller male.

"Yeah, yeah, can I borrow your button up?" Kendall blinked, confused.

"Um, sure, but why?"

Logan gestured down at himself. "I need to get rid of this blood, and the water won't be on for a little while yet. So I'm gonna use my shirt, but then it'll be ruined, leaving me shirtless. And you have something on under your button-up. So…?" Kendall immediately stripped it off and moved so he was blocking Logan from sight.

"Hurry up." Logan eyed Kendall strangely before stripped his shirt off and quickly scrubbing at his skin. It didn't get all of it, but it got most of it and he no longer looked like an extra in a horror movie.

Kendall wrapped his shirt around Logan a second later before taking the soiled shirt off of Logan's hands.

"I'll take that. Why didn't you wear your hoodie today or something?" Logan shrugged as he adjusted Kendall's shirt, slipping it over his arms and buttoning it up. It was kinda large on him but at least he wouldn't be half naked anymore.

"I don't know, just didn't feel like it today I guess." Logan shrugged and glanced up at Kendall. "Thanks."

Kendall nodded and opened his mouth to say something but Logan was already moving away and going to check on James.

"Hey buddy, ready to leave?" Logan questioned gently. James was now sitting next to his pool of sick, head cradled in his hands. His skin was still pasty white and Logan was concerned. James glanced up at him and nodded weakly.

"Yeah, yeah, I…" James trailed off and swallowed. Logan smiled sympathetically and reached out to help James up. The taller boy leaned heavily onto Logan's shoulders, emotionally drained.

They had seen a lot of death over the past three years, much more than they should have. Logan had gotten better at handling it, but James never had. Plus, James had always gotten queasy at the sight of blood.

Logan glanced over to see Kendall slightly gaping at him while Carlos looked amused.

"I'm gonna take James home, this was a bit much for him. I'll see you two later. Lucy?" he called out. She glanced over before looking at Kendall. Kendall shook himself out of his stupor and nodded at her, signaling it was alright.

Lucy jogged over to them and Logan started walking. The further away they got from the scene the stronger James seemed to become. By the time they reached their house James was walking on his own again. Logan stayed close and kept an eye on him though, just in case.

"Will you two be okay on your own? I need to go back and help. We're gonna need everyone we have on patrol." Lucy's voice broke through the tense silence that had surrounded them.

Logan glanced over at her and nodded, waving her away. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I'll make sure to get my gun out and lock all the doors."

Lucy glanced at them dubiously before nodding. "Okay. I'll wait until you're inside. Go on." She nodded towards the front door a few feet away.

Logan and James walked inside before locking the door behind them. James immediately walked into the living room and collapsed onto the couch before burying his head in his hands. Logan smiled sadly before heading upstairs to grab his gun from underneath his mattress.

Probably not the most original hiding place, but the easiest for him to access and remember. Once he was back downstairs he sat next to James and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked quietly. James nodded and rubbed his hands over his face before dropping them to his lap. He glanced at Logan and grimaced. James' face was still pale and his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"Yeah, I just… I'll never get used to it. I don't know how you can do it Logan," James whispered. Logan shrugged and picked idly at a stray thread from the couch.

"Well I wanted to be a doctor… before. Kinda hard to do that if you have a weak stomach. Guess I just built up an immunity to all of… it." Logan shrugged again and shot a weak smile in James' direction. James laughed at that, not unkindly.

"Yeah, yeah that makes sense."

They both fell silent again, the air around them still. Logan thought about everything that he had learned up until now and tried to figure out just _why_ these people were doing what they were doing. What their motivation could possibly be. Why _now_. Nothing made sense though.

"Are you going? Tomorrow, I mean?" James broke the silence and Logan glanced at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

James shot him a disbelieving look. "Tomorrow, to the meeting. With Kendall?" Logan blinked in surprise. He hadn't even thought about the upcoming meeting between Kendall and the person behind all of this.

"I-I…" he stuttered. James smirked a little.

"Like you're not tempted? I know that this isn't normally our thing, we stay out of the gang business, but you can't honestly say that you don't want to go. If only to make sure Kendall will be alright," James teased.

Logan flushed. James made a triumphant noise and Logan pushed his shoulder weakly in protest.

"I..." Logan sighed. "Yeah, I want to go. But we both know how Kendall is. He'd never allow it."

"So then sneak out and follow him like we did today! I'll go with you. Come on, I know you're just as curious as me." James prodded Logan lightly with a finger. Logan slapped at it, making James laugh in response.

"Let me think about it, okay?" James nodded and they both quieted again until Logan broke the silence a few minutes later.

"What do you think they want?"

James glanced at Logan before frowning and laying his head on the back of the couch.

"I honestly don't know. Nothing they've done really makes any sense. They might not even be after something, they could just be, you know, crazy." James brought a hand up and circled a finger in the air to emphasize his point.

Logan frowned but nodded. "True. I just can't help but think that there has to be _some_ reason for this."

James shrugged. "There's no way of knowing, so don't think too hard on it. We'll find out tomorrow anyway, regardless of if we follow them or not."

"I guess," Logan whispered. He couldn't shake the bad feeling he had though. Whatever was happening, it wasn't good. He could only hope that things didn't get any worse than they already had.

* * *

The next morning came too soon. Logan didn't get much sleep that night, too anxious to get a proper rest. It was the first time in a while all four of them were in the house throughout a whole night.

The four of them gathered in the kitchen as the sun rose and Logan made some bland oatmeal for breakfast. They ate in silence, no one really speaking. It wasn't until they were done eating and James had started to wash the dishes that Logan broke the silence.

"I'm coming with you," he stated confidently. Kendall didn't need to ask what he was talking about; it could only be one thing. He immediately glared at Logan and scoffed.

"Like hell you are!"

Logan crossed his arms over his chest, defiant. "Yes, I am. I'm the closest thing you guys have to a doctor here. What if something happens and you guys need me? If I stay here I'll be too far away to help. I'm _coming_."

Kendall's eyes narrowed. "Logan-"

"No Kendall," Logan cut him off. "It makes the most sense and you know it. I don't have to be out in the open, hell you can have guys guarding me, but I'm _going_ to be there."

Logan stood firm in his decision, one of the few times he chose to willfully defy Kendall. Normally he'd be happy to do whatever Kendall told him to, especially in matter like this. But after thinking about it last night, and knowing everything that could go wrong, Logan couldn't risk it. He needed to be there to make sure Kendall would be fine if things went sour.

He and Kendall stared at each other, both of them waiting for the other to stand down. James and Carlos were quiet and by a silent, mutual agreement the animosity between them was suspended as they both did the dishes in an attempt to have something to distract themselves from the tension behind them.

Kendall finally broke a few minutes later and cursed loudly. Logan immediately grinned, knowing he had won.

"Fine! You can come, but you won't leave Dak's side the entire time, got it?" Logan nodded happily and darted forward to hug Kendall tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Kendall grumbled. He returned the hug though, making Logan beam at him when he pulled back.

"James," Kendall spoke up. James started and turned to stare at the intimidating man. He and Carlos were finishing up the dishes and he wondered just what Kendall wanted.

"I can't leave you here alone, not when something like this is going down and you can't protect yourself. I can't spare anyone else to watch you here, so you're coming too, and you're not to leave Dak's side either, got it?"

James gaped at Kendall and Carlos immediately started to protest.

"Kendall-!"

"Whoa, wait, what?!"

Kendall silenced their protests with a glare. Both of them fell silent and Kendall frowned.

"I won't repeat myself. My decision is final. He's going to be there even if I have to assign you to watch him Carlos, and make sure nothing happens to him. Not to mention he's family, and if Logan's going to be there, he might as well be too. He'd just find a way to sneak out there anyway." Kendall rolled his eye at that and Logan had to stifle a grin because James would do exactly that and they all knew it.

James pouted a bit at that but nodded, knowing it was true. Carlos looked pissed, but he didn't say anything, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Instead he stormed out of the room before he did anything stupid. The other watched him go, James frowning sadly.

Logan shot James a sympathetic look but James brushed it off. "I'm gonna… go," James said awkwardly before rushing from the room. Logan watched him go sadly and sighed before turning back to Kendall. They stared at each other for a few moments before Kendall sighed and stood.

"Be ready to go in a few hours." And then he turned around and left as abruptly as the others. Logan sat in the kitchen alone and frowned. He had been going to spend the hours before they left with James but now the other was MIA and Kendall and Carlos wouldn't appreciate the company right now.

"Well now what do I do?"

* * *

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Logan muttered. Dak shushed him in response and Logan scowled.

They were just outside of the town limits, still within view of the town, though just barely. Farther outside the town there were a few buildings to hide behind. Logan, Dak and James were crouched behind an abandoned car though.

Most of the abandoned cars in the town had been cleared from the streets, leaving them empty. Outside of the town limits though they didn't bother, so it wasn't unusual to see them littered across the roadways, doors open and abandoned.

Kendall and Carlos stood out in the open in the middle of the road, waiting, while everyone else hid, weapons at the ready. If Logan looked across the street to the abandoned gas station he could barely make out Rafael, their sniper, positioned behind the station sign on the roof, ready to shoot.

A little farther back one of the few cars that still ran, and had gas, was waiting with Luke in the driver's seat, just in case. Logan hoped they wouldn't need it though.

"Where are they?" James whispered. Dak just shushed him like he had Logan, focusing on something down the road. Logan and James exchanged annoyed looks over Dak's bent head. They had been waiting for half an hour now and both of them were getting a bit irritable.

Logan looked down the road as well, trying to see if he could see what Dak apparently was. He squinted his eyes, searching through the mess of cars, trees and the occasional buildings until he gasped in surprise.

"Oh."

Dak grimaced and nodded. "Yeah," he muttered grimly.

"What, what?" James whispered frantically. This time both Dak and Logan shushed him. James huffed in irritation but fell silent.

Logan looked at Kendall and realized that he had already seen them, had likely known longer than anyone else. Logan swallowed and fought back the urge to run out there and drag Kendall back to their home and lock him up so he'd be safe.

"They're starting," Dak whispered. Logan focused his attention back further down the road and saw that Dak was right. People were slowly starting to reveal themselves from their hiding places, two of them taking the lead and walking down the road towards Kendall and Carlos.

James gasped inwardly as he saw the people appear from seemingly nowhere. Both Kendall and Carlos remained calm and waited for their 'guests' to reach them. About ten people followed behind the two that Logan identified as their leaders, though he could see more stayed hidden farther down the road.

Logan couldn't tell how many there were in total, but from what he _could_ see their numbers were similar. Which could be a potentially very bad thing.

The two leaders of the intruders stopped about ten feet from Kendall and Carlos, arrogant looks on their faces. Logan scanned their features, trying to see if he could place them, but nothing registered.

"I'm surprised you came," the stranger on the right spoke up. He was tall, as tall as Kendall, and had the same type of dirty blonde hair, though his was cut shorter than Kendall's. His eyes were dark from what Logan could see and his body was toned.

His companion was a female and considerably shorter. She looked to be a bit smaller than Logan and had the same dark brown hair, though hers was curly. Her eyes watched Kendall and Carlos darkly.

Kendall smirked in response to the man's statement, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as he did. "What can I say, after such a… compelling invitation I couldn't refuse."

The man sneered at that. "Yes. I'm assuming my men are dead then?"

Kendall just shot him a look that was all the answer the man needed. He nodded.

"Well then, let's just get down to it, shall we?" the man spoke with a grin that was far from welcoming or happy. Kendall nodded and the man continued.

"You have something that I want. I can either take it by force, or you can hand it over."

Kendall quirked an amused brow at that. "And what is it that I have that you want?" he asked sarcastically.

"For starters, James Diamond."

James gaped, Logan's eyes widened, Dak turned to stare at James incredulously and Carlos' eyes narrowed. Logan was sure everyone else was in a similar state of shock and disbelief. The only one who didn't show any outward signs of surprise was Kendall. He continued to gaze calmly at the man, apparently amused.

"And why do you want James Diamond so badly?"

The man's lips twisted in a poor attempt at a wry grin. "That's not really important, now is it?"

Kendall just grinned amusedly. "You think I'll just hand over someone under my protection because you asked nicely? Without any explanation? You're dumber than you look then Stetson."

The man, Stetson apparently (and just how did Kendall know who he was, Logan wondered), growled at that.

"So you do recognize me," Stetson spoke up after a moment of silence. Kendall laughed.

"I don't forget people that've regularly tried to kill me in the past. I'm surprised that you're still alive though, I must admit." Kendall's voice was mocking and Logan could see Stetson clenching his fists in anger.

"I'd watch myself, _Knight_," Stetson spat out. "You're at the disadvantage here."

Kendall's lips quirked upwards a bit. "Oh yeah? How's that?"

Logan was sure he could hear Stetson's teeth grinding together from his hiding spot. With a wave of Stetson's hand about twenty more people popped up from hiding, all of them pointing guns in their direction.

Kendall only laughed but made no move to indicate that his people should reveal themselves.

"Impressive, but it doesn't mean shit when I can tell from here the majority of those people? Have probably never, or very rarely, held a gun before. Their shooting skills will be laughable at best. Your intimidation tactics are as terrible as I remember Stetson," Kendall snarked.

Stetson's face turned red and Logan could see some of the people holding the guns shifting nervously. Logan looked closer and could see that a lot of them looked uncomfortable with the weight of a gun in their hands.

The way they were holding their weapons was awkward and more than a few of them looked small or weak enough that the recoil would snap them in half. Kendall's mockery of their skills wouldn't help their confidence either, which was probably the point, Logan mused silently.

Yeah, Kendall definitely had the upper hand. Had from the moment he recognized who was behind all this. Though Logan was clueless to just who that was. He didn't remember Kendall ever telling him about a Stetson. But then again, Logan had tended to tune out any gang related talk a few years ago, uninterested in hearing about Kendall's exploits.

Now he wished he had paid a bit more attention.

"Now why do you want James?" Kendall demanded, abruptly switching the topic back. Stetson's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"He has something that we need."

Kendall cocked his head to the side, interested. "Oh really? And what could he possibly have that would warrant you breaking into the town bank?"

"Information," Stetson spat. Kendall blinked, confused.

"Information?" Stetson nodded but didn't offer up any more insight. Kendall hummed lightly, thinking.

"No."

Stetson's eyes narrowed. "No?"

Kendall nodded and grinned, pleased. "No, you can't have him. Especially for a crappy reason like that. Now fuck off before we kill each and every single one of you."

Stetson growled, enraged. His companion seemed to realize this and put a hand on his arm to try to placate him.

"Jett, don't, that won't help any-"

Jett didn't answer though and pulled out his gun before aiming it at Kendall. Carlos immediately did the same and aimed it at Jett.

"I'm going to get him, one way or another," Jett threatened. Kendall just laughed.

"You can try," he answered, amused. Jett seemed to lose it then and he fired his gun three times in rapid succession. Kendall cursed and dropped to the ground, holding onto his arm. Carlos immediately fired back, even as Jett's companion was drawing him away for cover.

Logan heard Jett cry out, meaning Carlos likely hit him, but all of this attention was on Kendall. Kendall who was on the ground cursing up a storm. Kendall, whose clothes and hand were slowly turning red.

Kendall, who had been fucking _shot_.

"Kendall!" he cried out. He immediately scrambled out from behind the cover of the car, ignoring the shouted protests from Dak as he did so. He ran around and skidded to a stop next to Kendall's body. He sunk down to his knees next to the blonde and gently put his hands over the one Kendall was using to cover up the bullet wound.

"How bad is it?" he asked frantically. Kendall glared up at him, snarling.

"What are you doing away from cover?"

"You got _shot_! You can't expect me to stay hidden!" Logan yelled back. Kendall snarled but Logan pressed down on the skin above the wound, hard. Kendall hissed and fell silent as he glared up at Logan.

Logan only smirked. "Now, how bad is it?" he asked again. Kendall slowly unwrapped his hand from around his arm and lowered it. Blood immediately spilled down his arm but Logan ignored that. He grabbed Kendall's arm gently and inspected the wound.

He turned Kendall's arm over, pressing down gently to determine if it was a through-and-through or not.

"Looks like the bullet passed clean through," he muttered before reaching down and tearing a long strip off of the bottom of his ragged t-shirt.

"Logan, what are you doing?" Kendall asked eyes wide. Logan just ignored him though and wrapped the strip of fabric around the wound before tying it tightly. He ripped off another piece and wrapped it just above the wound, as a sort of tourniquet.

"Come on, I need to get you back to the clinic. We need to get this stitched up and stop the bleeding or you could die," Logan said, standing and leaning down to help Kendall up.

"No, really?" Kendall snarked. Logan shot him an unimpressed glare in response and Kendall just smirked back cheekily.

"The bullet missed your artery, thankfully, but it's too close for comfort. I don't want you to bleed out, which you could if we don't get to the clinic," Logan muttered to Kendall. Kendall grunted and gritted his teeth as a sharp pain went through his already burning arm.

"You still shouldn't have left cover, not before making sure it was safe," Kendall insisted. Logan shot him a disbelieving look as the others came out of hiding and guarded them, making sure they were safe from view.

Logan was vaguely aware of the fact that the intruders were retreating and that James and Dak had come up to join them. All of his attention was on Kendall. His best friend. The love of his life. A stubborn, fucking, idiot.

"Sorry for caring about the fact that my best friend had just been fucking shot! This is why I wanted to come along, because something like this could, and did, happen!"

Kendall stopped their trek to the car that Luke had already started in anticipation of their arrival. Instead Kendall turned to glare at Logan, irritation on his features.

"It's not that big a deal Logan, I've been shot before and I haven't died yet! You didn't need to come all the way out here and put yourself at risk. You could have just waited at the clinic if you were so worried!"

"I needed to be able to see with my own eyes that you would be fine! Not to mention, what if it was more serious? What if they wouldn't be able to keep you stabilized before you reached the clinic if I wasn't here and you ended up dying because of it? Huh?"

Both of them were practically screaming at each other by this point. Everyone else was pointedly looking away, giving them some semblance of privacy. Logan's face was red, as was Kendall's, both of them angrier than they've ever been at each other.

"Why do you care so much Logan, huh? You've always looked down on the fact that I'm not a perfect, compliant member of society like you are! I know how much you hate what I do. So why do you care so much? Huh?" Kendall got right up in Logan's face, eyes narrowed as he shot the spiteful words.

"Because you're my best friend and I'm in love with you, you fucking idiot!" Logan shot back.

Silence.

Kendall's eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open in shock. Logan froze and started to panic internally, mentally berating himself.

'Why, oh why did you have to go and _say_ it you idiot?!'

"What?" Kendall choked out. Logan swallowed and grabbed Kendall's good arm.

"We need to get you to the clinic, we can't waste any more time," Logan muttered desperately. He started walking, pulling a surprisingly compliant Kendall along by the arm. Kendall was in too much shock to do anything other than follow what Logan said though.

Everyone else was in shock as well. They all glanced at each other uncertainly, wondering what would happen between their leader and Logan now. They had known, of course, that Logan was in love with Kendall. It was obvious. They just hadn't expected him to ever, you know, actually isay/i it.

The ride back into town was silent, only broken occasionally by Logan's muttering as he examined the bullet wound.

They got back to the clinic soon enough and Logan guided Kendall inside quickly. James, Carlos, Dak and Lucy followed them in while a few others stood guard outside. The rest joined those left behind on patrol.

"Up you go," Logan said distractedly as he guided Kendall onto an exam chair in one of the rooms. Carlos and James stood off to the side in the room while Lucy and Dak waited just outside the door.

"Local anesthetic, local anesthetic," Logan muttered as he opened one of the cabinets. He made a triumphant noise as he found what he was looking for.

"Okay Kendall, lean back and prop your arm up on this," Logan said before maneuvering a moveable tray table next to the chair. Kendall did as asked silently and Logan quickly got to work numbing the bullet wound. Kendall winced at the slight pain but otherwise gave no show of discomfort.

It wasn't until Logan had started to stitch him up ten minutes later that Kendall started to talk, though not to Logan.

"James, do you have any idea about what information you could possibly have that they would want?"

James startled a bit at being addressed, but he bounced back quickly. He shook his head, looking bewildered. "No, I have no clue."

Kendall scowled. "Well try to think. It must have something to do with something your father wanted to keep locked up. You said he was looking into storing things at the bank once, right? But didn't? Is it possible that he did, and just didn't tell you?"

James opened his mouth, eyes annoyed, before he slowly closed it, eyes considering. "I… It's possible," he muttered. James' eyes narrowed in thought.

"If he did," James started slowly, "then it wouldn't have been complete, wouldn't have been important. The important bits he would have kept at home or in his head where no one could get to it."

"Would they still be at your house if he did keep something there?" James' eyes widened.

"I… yeah, they should be. Do you think that they might try to-?"

"I don't know, but it's better to be safe than sorry," Kendall interrupted. James swallowed.

"James, I want you and Carlos to go to your old house and try to find anything that they might be looking for. I don't care if it might seem insignificant. If you think it might be important in any way bring it back with you. Joe should be able to tell us soon if you father did in fact have any boxes at the bank. If he did, he probably did keep something at home so don't half-ass this."

Carlos didn't protest the thought of going with James this time and James looked too worried to be excited about the fact that he'd be alone with Carlos for who knows how long.

"I don't know any of dad's safe combinations though. At least, not the important ones."

"Well, I'm sure he kept them somewhere, find them."

James nodded again but didn't look optimistic at the prospect.

"When do you want us to go?" Carlos asked.

"The sooner the better. Now, if you can," Kendall replied. Carlos made a face.

"But you're-"

"Carlos," Kendall interrupted with an amused smirk. Carlos' mouth snapped shut and Kendall laughed.

"I'll be fine. Logan will finish stitching me up and Dak, Lucy and a number of people are outside on guard. I'll be fine. Go."

Carlos nodded reluctantly and James looked vaguely sick at the prospect of leaving right then.

"Don't spend too long there though," Kendall warned. "If it starts to get dark and you haven't found anything just come back to the house. You can start again tomorrow."

Carlos nodded before turning to James. "Come on," he said blankly before heading for the door. James followed along, leaving Kendall and Logan alone in the room. The silence was immediately tense. Kendall turned his attention back to Logan, who was very determinedly not looking up at Kendall.

Logan was focused completely on his task and wasn't giving any indication that he knew Kendall was watching him. He was done with the front of Kendall's arm and had moved onto the back. He was about half-way through with that, working quickly and efficiently.

"Are we gonna talk?" Kendall asked quietly. Logan's eyes flicked up to meet Kendall's before they flicked back down to the task at hand.

"No," he said shortly. Kendall frowned.

"Logan-"

"Don't, Kendall," Logan interrupted. Logan's jaw clenched and he pulled particularly hard at one of the stitches.

"Just… please, don't," Logan whispered. Kendall watched Logan silently as if trying to figure something out. Slowly he nodded.

"Fine," he whispered. Logan exhaled and relaxed a bit.

"Just a few more," Logan muttered.

The exam room was silent as Logan finished up Kendall's stitches. He quickly washed away the excess blood before sealing the sutures and wrapped them up with gauze.

"Don't get them wet for 24 hours, and then after that try to keep them as dry as possible, but make sure to clean them at least once a day so that you don't get an infection. Don't do anything excessive, and try not to lift anything with that arm for a while, as you might rip them and I really don't want to have to re-stich you. I'll check them again in about two weeks to see if they can be taken out or not."

Kendall nodded and watched as Logan cleaned up while he talked.

"Thank you," Kendall said suddenly. Logan stopped and turned to look at Kendall in surprise.

"What?" Logan tilted his head to the side in confusion. Kendall grinned a little.

"Thank you, for, you know," Kendall waved his arm a little. Logan nodded and shrugged.

"You're my friend Kendall, I wasn't about to let you bleed to death." And it was as simple as that. Kendall nodded and Logan got back to cleaning.

"I'll go let everyone know you're okay," Logan said once he was done.

"Logan, wait-" Kendall started, but before he could finish Logan was out the door. Kendall frowned and something tugged in his chest. Lucy and Dak peeked in a moment later, their faces carefully blank.

"You all fixed boss?" Dak asked casually. Kendall nodded and hopped down from the exam chair. He grabbed his button up from where Logan had put it when he was getting ready to stitch Kendall up.

"Yeah, good as new, just like things were before," he muttered. Except he couldn't help thinking that nothing would be like it was before again.

* * *

"Have you found anything yet?" Carlos asked irritably. James frowned at him from his place behind his father's desk in the study.

"No, not yet," he said shortly. Carlos groaned and went back to searching through the papers he had in his lap. James just sighed and went back to searching through the ledger in front of him. He was trying to think like his father and think about what he could have possibly used as the combination to the two safes behind him.

They were the two that his father used for the really important things. James would have learned the combinations when he turned 20 if his father had still been alive. James knew that his father wouldn't have written them down anywhere, at least not anywhere that James would likely ever be able to find, so his last resort was trying to get into his father's head.

They had been there for at least two hours already and James had amassed a pile of paperwork and notebooks that he had deemed important. Still, nothing really describing anything that James would think the intruders would want.

"Come on, think, what would they be," he muttered to himself.

"Talking to yourself now?" Carlos snarked. James scowled and glared at the shorter boy.

"What is your problem Carlos?" he demanded. Carlos smirked.

"Aaaw, did I hurt the princess' feelings?" he asked cruelly. James frowned.

"No. But you're such a bitch to me and I've never done ianything/i to you. Why are you so rude all the damn time?"

Carlos scoffed and moved a bit closer to James.

"Please, like you really care. You've looked down on people like me all your life, and now that you're one of the less fortunate that hasn't changed. You're still hiding behind someone and letting them do all the hard work for you."

James frowned, hurt. "That's not true. I've never looked down on you Carlos, or anyone for that matter. And I don't hide behind Kendall. I do what I can, but it's you two who rarely let me do anything anyway!"

Carlos sneered at that. "Always have an excuse, don't you Diamond?"

James' lips twisted and he moved around the desk and closer to Carlos, almost in his face. "They're not excuses you bastard. You're just too blinded by your hatred and ego to see that you're actually wrong about me!"

"Again with the arrogance! It just burns you that there's actually someone out there who doesn't worship the ground you walk on doesn't it?"

"If I wanted people to worship me, I certainly wouldn't choose you to!"

"You could only be so lucky."

"In your dreams maybe."

"Oh that's original. What're you gonna do next, say we should agree to disagree?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

By this point they were standing toe to toe, faces barely inches apart. James had never felt as angry at someone as he did right then. He might like the shorter boy, but that didn't mean he would put up with the constant verbal abuse.

"Not as much as you I bet. You're _weak_ rich boy."

James' eyes narrowed. "Shut up," he growled out.

Carlos smirked. "Make me," he taunted.

Before either of them realized what James was doing he had latched onto Carlos shirt, dragged him forward and crashed their lips together. Carlos was frozen for a moment, shocked. He had expected James to back down, to be silent, maybe even to hit him.

Just about anything except kiss him.

James' tongue came out and licked across Carlos' bottom lip, breaking the smaller man out of his reverie. He growled before surging forward and responding. He pushed James backwards so that the taller man was pinned to his father's desk, Carlos' hands gripping James hips so tight that bruises would be left behind.

His mouth opened and immediately they fought for dominance of the kiss, James' arms tightening their position around the shorter's neck. Carlos licked into James' mouth, mapping it out and making the taller boy moan in appreciation as he surrendered to the elder.

Carlos smirked into the kiss and rubbed his thumbs in small circles on the exposed skin of James' hips. James moaned again and Carlos snapped out of the light daze he had been in. He pulled back from the kiss sharply and gasped for breath.

James panted and opened his eyes, arms still tight around Carlos' neck. Carlos' eyes were wide as they stared into James' hazel ones. Their faces were close together, close enough that their noses bumped.

James licked his lips and Carlos' attention snapped to them at the movement. James licked them again and then Carlos surged forward, crashing their lips together for a second time.

Carlos wedged his leg between James and pressed their bodies together from knee to shoulder. James buried his hands in the short strands of Carlos' hair and tugged lightly. Carlos moaned and bit James' bottom lip before trailing kisses from James mouth, across his chin and down his neck. He paid special attention to a spot just underneath James' ear, biting and licking.

James sighed and pressed Carlos' head closer to his neck. Carlos grinned against the skin of James' neck and bit down roughly when James gave a particularly hard tug on his hair.

"Shit!" James cried out. Carlos chuckled and pushed his hands up under James' shirt and splayed them across James' stomach and pressed lightly.

James groaned and tilted his head back farther. He could barely believe that Carlos was doing this to him, that he had managed to get this far with Carlos, the guy he had liked for forever it seemed like. It was almost like he was two different people.

Two different people…

"That's it!" James yelled excitedly. He pushed Carlos away gently before scrambling around the desk and moving to one of the two safes located on the wall behind it. Carlos stumbled against the desk and stared at James incredulously, mouth gaping open.

"What?"

"The combinations, I think I know what they are!" James replied. He shot Carlos a wide grin before turning back to the first safe and turning in a combination of numbers.

"And what's that?" Carlos asked dryly.

"My dad was kinda vain, it's where I got it from," James admitted as he turned the last number. He tried to open the safe but it didn't budge. He brushed it off though and started turning in another one.

"It's why he took a younger mistress when he thought mom was getting old. If I know dad, the combinations are probably something like their measurements," James said lightly as he finished turning in the last number of the second combination, which were the mistress' measurements.

He didn't want to think about how he knew either woman's measurements. The conversation still gave him nightmares.

James triumphantly opened the first safe with the second combination. "Yes!" he cried. Carlos looked vaguely impressed.

"Can you open the other one?" Carlos asked quietly. He was still shocked because of what had happened minutes before. James turned and flashed a grin at Carlos.

"Yes, I should be able to." James quickly moved to the other safe and turned in a combination. The tumblers slid into place and the second safe clicked open. James beamed.

"Hey, can you grab the papers out of the other safe?" James asked. Carlos did so without needing to be asked twice. James grabbed the papers and folders out of the second safe before turning and placing them on the desk.

Carlos dropped the documents he found in the first safe next to the ones James set down. James had already started to scan them, brow furrowed.

"Can you understand what's on these?" Carlos asked. James didn't answer, too busy frantically flipping through the documents. His eyes grew wider and wider with each new page scanned. Carlos frowned and something that felt and awful lot like concern flew through him.

"James?"

"We need to get these to Kendall," James said quickly. Carlos made a face.

"Why? What's on them?"

James glanced up, expression serious as he shook his head.

"We just… we need to see Kendall. Now."

* * *

They took Broad Street back from James' house. It was a bit out of the way, but it would be easiest for them to check if Kendall and Logan were still on Main Street or back at the house.

As luck would have it, they were a little past Main Street when they ran into Kendall, whose arm was in a sling. By the sour look on the blonde's face, it wasn't something he wanted to be wearing. Kendall noticed them a second after they spotted him.

His eyes drifted to the bags that they were carrying, full of the documents they had found. Kendall quirked a brow. "I take it you found something," he stated blandly. James nodded his head, not cracking a smile at the joke.

Kendall's eyes narrowed. "What did you find?" he demanded. James shook his head though.

"Logan should hear this too," James replied quietly. Kendall pursed his lips but nodded in agreement.

"He should be back at the house, come on." They started to walk. James and Carlos exchanged a look over the bitter tone in Kendall's voice at the fact that Logan was, apparently, back at the house without Kendall.

They didn't say anything though and the rest of the walk was made in tense silence. James couldn't help but feel relieved when their home loomed in the distance. He had to resist the urge to break out into a run.

"Logan!" He called out as soon as he was through the door. A crash was heard in the direction of the kitchen followed by a loud curse. James' eyes widened and he could practically feel equal amounts of amusement and concern radiating off of the two behind him.

"You okay bud?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just… surprised. Dropped something is all," Logan said as he walked out of the kitchen. He was rubbing at his thigh as he walked and James frowned a bit.

"Sorry." Logan just shrugged it off.

"No big deal, shit happens. Now what were you bellowing about?" he teased. James' eyes widened and he jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen.

"Come on, I need to show you guys something."

A few minutes later found Kendall, Logan, and Carlos staring down at the documents in disbelief.

"This… is what they wanted?" Logan asked slowly. James could tell he was as skeptical as James had been. From the looks on Kendall and Carlos' faces, they weren't far behind.

"How did he even know your father might have these is the better question," Carlos murmured. James shrugged.

"It's possible he somehow worked with my father before? Or he worked in politics in some capacity, or knew someone who did. And it's not too far out of the realm of possibility that my father imight/i have something like this.

"He was only a small town mayor but he did come from money, as did my mother. He could have bought the information and a spot there. Granted, I never heard about it, but the man was a bastard so he could have only been planning on saving himself," James ended bitterly.

Carlos shot him a look of confusion at the statement but James ignored the look. Kendall hummed at the information and flipped to another page.

"Yeah, probably," he muttered. The kitchen fell silent again as Kendall flipped through another page.

"Your father seriously thought that there was a safe haven from the disease?" Logan asked, breaking the silence.

James shrugged. "It's what the documents indicate. He was able to buy a place in some super-secret, top notch safe haven where, supposedly, the disease wouldn't be able to reach and everyone would be safe. Of course, he didn't expect to die before he could get there I bet."

Carlos snorted at that and James shot him a grin. Logan looked between the two in confusion and wondered why Carlos wasn't metaphorically ripping James a new one.

"It would be no use anyway now, I bet," Kendall broke. The three immediately turned their attention to him. James frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Kendall glanced up from the papers for the first time since he started to read them. "What I mean," he said, locking eyes with James, "is that even if this place _did_ exist, and wasn't just some scam, it would likely be useless now. You can't keep a disease out forever. Anyone who went there is probably dead by now.

"Who knows how many of them mutated. Chances are this place, if it exists, is better left alone now. It's not worth it. And Jett is an idiot for thinking about going there, and so are the people he's apparently managed to convince to follow him."

Logan was nodding along, seeing the logic. Carlos just shrugged, not really caring one way or the other. James blinked in surprise before realizing that Kendall was right. He frowned.

"So what are we going to do about Jett then? He's probably not going to believe us if we say we know nothing, or that we found nothing. And if he's convinced this place is real, and desperate enough, who knows what he might do to get his way?"

Kendall didn't look particularly worried at the prospect. "Jett is more bark than bite. He has no real fighters backing him, and the ones he does have are small in number. I'm not too worried about him."

Logan and James exchanged glances, both of them worried. They didn't think Kendall should be taking Jett so lightly. But there wasn't much they could do to change Kendall's mind. Once it was made up it stayed that way.

"Just make sure those aren't famous last words Kendall," Logan whispered softly. Kendall pretended not to hear him.

* * *

The next day was tense. No one really seemed to know what to do. Patrols went on as usual, though they were doubled. No mistakes were allowed.

The rest of the townspeople were told to stay indoors, no exceptions. If they needed something, they were to flag someone down when they patrolled their street and tell them what they needed. Even if was an emergency, they weren't allowed to leave their homes.

People protested, of course, but it was made clear to them that they didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Anyone found breaking the rules would face severe consequences.

James and Logan were confined to the house as well, too amped up to sit still. Kendall (under protest from his 'doctor') was out as well, and Carlos was with him. Logan had his gun with him at all times, per Kendall's orders, and James had been forced to carry one as well.

Nothing happened though, and the next day the tension was higher for everyone. Things continued in that fashion for about a week, everyone being wound tighter and tighter, until Logan was sure someone was gonna break.

Before Logan could see that happen though, something happened.

It was exactly eight days after the confrontation with Jett. Kendall was becoming more and more agitated, as was Carlos by default. James was getting jumpy and Logan was getting quieter and quieter.

Logan and James were once again alone in the house. Logan sat in the kitchen and James stood in front of their portable stove, boiling water for tea. A knock sounded at the door and both of them looked up.

"Are we expecting anyone?" Logan asked. James shook his head silently. Both of them reached for their guns at the same time, but it was too late. The door exploded inwards and some people poured in, all of them armed with guns.

Logan and James both froze at the sight of the guns trained on them. Logan immediately recognized the leader of the home invaders and his eyes narrowed.

"Jett," he stated. Jett smirked and waved a hand condescendingly. Two of the people moved forward, towards James, and Logan stood up abruptly.

"Don't!" he shouted. All eyes, and guns, were immediately focused on Logan. Logan swallowed and Jett narrowed his eyes.

"What do you want shrimp?" Logan frowned at the nickname but stood his ground.

"Don't take James," he said. Jett laughed.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because I know as much as James about the safe haven, and I'm a medic. I'd be more useful as a hostage," Logan stated faintly. Jett paused and tilted his head.

"The shrimp has a point." Logan grimaced but was internally glad that Jett seemed to be considering.

"No! Logan, no way, I can't let you do that!" James cried. Logan shot a glare behind him at the younger boy.

"James, shut up."

James' eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock. Logan huffed and turned back to Jett.

"Take me," Logan insisted. Jett was silent for a moment before smirking.

"You know what, okay. Take him," he gestured towards Logan. The two who had been going for James turned to him instead and grabbed his arms tightly. Logan gasped in faint pain as their hands seemed to crush his upper arms.

They frog-marched him forward until they were standing behind Jett, who was smirking at James.

"Thanks for your cooperation. Tell Kendall that I'll be happy to meet with him again in three days time in the same place. And thank him for all of his… help, getting here," Jett winked and James narrowed his eyes in anger.

Jett motioned for the other to leave and they did, taking Logan with them. Jett waved at James once more before turning and leaving through the destroyed door. James stood in the same place, feeling helpless and angry. His hands clenched at his sides.

He had just let his best friend be taken away in front of him, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. And now he was gone and in Jett's 'capable' hands.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" He screamed and smashed his fist down on the counter next to him. He could hear the water boiling on the stove, close to bubbling over but he ignored it. Pain radiated from his fist but he ignored it, focusing instead on his anger.

Then James thought about Kendall. He groaned and put his head in his hands.

Kendall was going to be _furious_.


	3. Part 3

**WARNINGS**: Off-screen non-con, Sexual situations (not terribly explicit), and the usual.

* * *

Logan stumbled a bit and the people guiding him jerked him upright roughly. "Keep moving," one of them growled. Logan scowled but continued to move, hating that he had to rely on two complete strangers to guide him over the terrain.

He had no idea where they were, a blindfold obscuring his vision. He didn't think they were in any of the nearby towns, the terrain he had been walking over seemed to be mostly uneven and he was sure he had tripped over some rocks and tree roots.

They had to be going through a forest somehow, but Logan couldn't think of any habitable place they could possibly reach going through the _woods_.

"Almost there," someone muttered. Logan gave a mental sigh of relief. They had been walking for at least half an hour or more and Logan's legs were getting tired.

A few minutes later the ground smoothened out and the air became fragranced with burning wood. Logan assumed they had arrived, and when he heard the sound of many voices talking at once he knew he was right.

"Where should we take him boss?" one of the men questioned. Jett answered with some sort of building name and then the men were pushing him forward again. Logan grumbled under his breath but walked. A minute later they must have reached their destination as they paused. A door opened and then someone untied the blindfold before pushing him into the room.

"Have fun," one of them snickered. Then the door closed behind them, leaving him in darkness. Logan cursed, spun around and kicked the door.

"You shouldn't do that, it won't solve anything," a voice said from the darkness behind them. Logan spun around again, eyes wide.

"Who's there?" he asked. A light flickered in the corner and illuminated a face. Their hair was long, limp and greasy, hanging in front of their face. Their skin was pulled taunt over their bones and their body was thin and weak.

Yet despite all this Logan still recognized her. His eyes widened in shock.

"Katie?!"

The teen smiled grimly. "Hey Logan, long time no see."

Logan rushed forward and hugged the teen gently. He could feel tears gathering in his eyes, all the emotions running together and nearly overwhelming him. Katie hugged back weakly and Logan felt rage rushing through him at the way Katie had obviously been treated.

Katie was Kendall's younger sister and had disappeared three years ago, not long after the epidemic had reached their town. No one was able to figure out what had happened to her. She and Kendall had been together when it happened, something that still tore Kendall up.

One minute she had been there and then she had been gone. Kendall had searched for months before they had declared her dead. Kendall hadn't wanted to, but there had been other, more pressing things to focus on. It had taken him months to forgive himself and Logan knew he still had nightmares about it.

"Katie, have you been here the whole time?" Logan asked as he pulled back from the hug. Katie nodded and Logan gritted his teeth. He pulled Katie into another hug and Katie curled into Logan's embrace, breathing deeply.

"It's good to see you again Logan," Katie whispered. Her voice broke and her chest heaved and Logan knew she was about to cry. Logan resisted the urge to cry himself and just held her tighter.

"It's gonna be okay now Katie, you'll get out of here. I promise." She sobbed and held him tighter. Logan just buried his face in her hair and hummed softly.

He didn't know what he was going to do, or what was going to happen, but he wasn't letting Katie slip out of their fingers again.

* * *

"_What_?!" Kendall roared, enraged.

James cowered back against the wall as Kendall raged. Kendall picked up a mug and threw it at a wall. James ducked down on instinct and darted away to stand near Carlos, who was standing on the other side of the room and watching Kendall with wide eyes.

Kendall screamed and overturned a chair before turning back to James, eyes dark with rage.

"How did he get here?" Kendall asked, voice deceptively low. James swallowed and winced.

"He, he didn't say, exactly, but h-he said to t-thank you for all of your _help_ getting here," James stuttered. Kendall's eyes narrowed and he growled.

"So he does have inside help," Kendall hissed. James shrugged but kept his eyes focused on Kendall.

"T-that's what it sounded like."

Kendall screamed again and overturned the table this time. James shrieked and shrunk behind Carlos this time. Carlos glanced at James in surprise before turning his attention to Kendall.

"Kendall," he called soothingly, "destroying the house isn't going to change anything." He held his hands out placatingly towards the blonde. Kendall snarled at him.

"No, but it'll make me feel better since I can't shoot anything," he said darkly. Carlos conceded the point silently. It had always been easiest for Kendall to get rid of his anger and rage by destroying something, and right now his options for that were limited. The only person who could calm him down if he got this bad was Logan… who had just been kidnapped by the enemy.

Carlos winced, already regretting what he was about to say. "Why don't we go upstairs and spar a little? Huh? You need a clear head right now Kendall." he suggested weakly.

Kendall eyed him warily. They had a large, spare room upstairs that they had cleared out and turned into a little work-out area. Carlos and Kendall used it the most however. Both Kendall and Carlos were exceptional fighters, but Kendall had always been better. And the angrier he became, the harder he fought and the harder he hit. He'd wipe the floor the Carlos now and beat the crap out of him. But it would give him a way to release the anger that wouldn't destroy the house or put anyone else, like James, in the crosshairs.

"Fine," Kendall growled. He stalked upstairs and Carlos groaned.

"Good luck buddy," James said soothingly before patting Carlos' shoulders lightly. Carlos just grunted before following Kendall upstairs.

Might as well get it over with.

* * *

"Fuck," Carlos hissed, pain radiating from everywhere. Kendall stood on the other side of the room and smirked.

"Had enough yet?" he taunted. Carlos grunted and stood up, holding his shoulder which had been jarred when he landed on it.

"Yes," he said bluntly. Kendall chuckled before growing serious.

"Sorry, for, you know, hulking out earlier," he said sheepishly. Kendall rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Carlos waved it off with a scoff.

"Don't be, I understand. If I was in your position I'm sure I would have acted the same." Carlos thought about what it would have been like to know that the person he cared about most had been kidnapped right under his nose when they should have been safe. Someone important.

He saw a flash of hazel eyes in his mind and scowled before pushing the thought away. He glanced up at Kendall to see the other gazing out the window with a pensive look.

"Kendall?" Carlos asked tentatively.

"Do you know why I decided we'd stay here Carlos?" Kendall asked suddenly. Carlos blinked at the abrupt change in conversation. He shook his head before realizing Kendall wouldn't be able to see. He smacked himself mentally before answering.

"No, Kendall. I just figured you didn't want to deal with the hassle of leaving," Carlos said tentatively. Kendall snorted and smirked derisively.

"No, it would have been simple enough. I'd have just taken you and Logan and left. We'd have been fine on our own. No, I didn't leave because of Logan."

Carlos frowned in confusion. "We didn't leave because of… Logan?" he asked confused. Kendall nodded and turned to look at Carlos. He leaned against the wall beside the window and tilted his head to the side.

"I didn't want to stay. Sure this was my home, but I hated it here, you know that. And after what happened to mom and… Katie," Kendall choked out, "I didn't really want to stay."

Carlos smiled sympathetically at the mention of Kendall's family. Kendall's mom had succumbed to the epidemic not long after it hit the town, leaving Kendall to look after his little sister by himself. And then his sister had disappeared and it was like a small part of Kendall had died. Carlos knew that Kendall still blamed himself for his family's death, despite Carlos and Logan's attempts to convince him otherwise.

"So how does Logan fit into this?" Carlos asked finally. Kendall laughed and glanced to the side.

"Logan… Logan has always been important to me." Carlos nodded and Kendall continued. "I've always loved him, he was like my little brother. I'd do anything for him, I'm sure you've realized. After everything that happened I was fully prepared to leave this godforsaken town with you and Logan and never look back."

Kendall paused before continuing. "But Logan didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay," Kendall glanced at Carlos and grinned wryly. "I don't know why, but he didn't want to leave, so I decided we'd stay. And so I took over the town and helped try to keep everyone alive, because it's what Logan wanted."

Carlos blinked, surprised. He hadn't expected that. "All for Logan?" Kendall nodded. After everything that had happened Carlos decided that he'd finally asked Kendall the one question he'd always assumed was obvious. After the past few days though he almost felt like nothing was like he'd assumed anymore.

"Are you in love with Logan?" he asked bluntly. Kendall just gazed at him, considering. A week or two ago Kendall probably would have blown up at Carlos for asking that question. Now though he just quietly considered it.

"You know, I always suspected that Logan was in love with me, but I just figured I was seeing things that weren't there. That it was just some sort of hero worship that I occasionally mistook for romantic love. Finding out that Logan was, in fact, in love with me was quite… eye opening," Kendall said.

Carlos stayed quiet and waited for Kendall to continue.

"I never really considered Logan like that. I love him, sure, but I'm pretty sure I'm not _in love_ with him. But… I think that it would be easy for me to fall in love with him. He's already practically everything to me. I care about him, a lot. To love him would be… easy."

Carlos nodded, not terribly surprised by the answer. "So what will you do when we get Logan back?" because it wasn't a question of _if_ they got him back. They would get him back, there was no other option.

"I won't be letting him out of my sights anytime soon for one thing. And I'm going to make sure that he knows he's mine for the rest of his life," Kendall smirked a bit at that and Carlos rolled his eyes.

"Will you be his for the rest of his life as well?" He asked blandly. Kendall shot him a look.

"Do you really need to ask?" Carlos shook his head and snorted.

"No, not really, romantic sap." Kendall just shrugged and looked amused.

"I'm not a total hardass. You of all people knows that Carlitos," he teased. Carlos laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Kendhalia," he teased right back. They both started to laugh before collapsing on the ground. They continued to laugh for a few minutes, the tension of the past few days being released. By the end of their spontaneous laughing fit they were lying next to each other and staring up at the ceiling silently in a companionable silence.

"I love you man, you know that, right?" Kendall spoke suddenly. Carlos blinked and turned his head to look at Kendall in amusement.

"Of course. I love you too dude. What's with the chick-flick moment?" Kendall snorted and lightly hit Carlos in the stomach with the back of his hand.

"Jerk. And no reason, just felt the need to say it." Carlos hummed thoughtfully.

"Now come on, we should probably go downstairs and reassure James we didn't kill each other or something," Kendall laughed. Carlos laughed with him in agreement.

"Come on," Kendall said, sitting up. He held a hand out to Carlos as he stood and the shorter male grabbed it and let Kendall haul him up. They grinned at each other and for the first time in a few days, Carlos knew things would be okay. They had to be.

* * *

Later that night James sat alone in the rarely used backroom. There wasn't much in there except for a couch, an armchair and a few thick carpets covering the wood floor. It was basically a sun-room, with the far wall covered in windows that opened to the backyard. On the opposite wall was a fireplace that was currently in use.

The nights were starting to get colder and that night seemed to be particularly chilly for some reason. James sat on the floor with his back against the couch, a light blanket wrapped around him. Kendall would probably scold him for his waste of firewood but he didn't really care. He didn't feel like being up in their bedroom where Logan's empty bed would mock him.

"What are you doing?" a voice called from the doorway. James turned to see Carlos watching him, arms crossed over his chest. James shrugged nonchalantly.

"What does it look like?" he asked dully. Carlos sighed and walked over to James' prone form. He sunk down so that he was sitting next to James and stretched his legs out in front of him.

"Kendall's gonna be mad," Carlos stated blandly.

"Kendall will get over it," James retorted. It was a 180 from earlier when he was terrified of Kendall's temper. Carlos laughed.

"You know, when you relax, you're… not half bad," Carlos admitted. James grinned over at the shorter boy.

"What have I been telling you? Huh? Took you three years to see I was right," James teased lightly. Carlos snorted and pushed James' shoulder lightly.

"Don't get cocky Diamond, I'm only _just_ starting to find you mildly likeable, don't ruin it."

James smirked. "I think you find me more than _mildly likeable_, if the past week or so has been any indication."

Carlos leered at James at the subtle reminder of what they'd been up to the past few days. "Lust is something completely different from likeability. I don't have to _like_ you to want to fuck you," Carlos stated bluntly.

James winced internally at that but outwardly he just laughed. Ever since their… 'moment' in his old house, whenever they had the chance they managed to sneak away and 'explore' this newfound physical attraction.

Of course, for James, it was something more. He had always been attracted to the shorter male. His strength and general attitude of not giving a fuck had been attractive to James, who had always been weak and susceptible to the opinions of others in comparison.

Despite Carlos' prickly attitude James had always managed to see past it and see the boy underneath, the one who was best friends with Kendall and cared about Logan like a younger brother. Even though that attitude had never been directed towards him.

He had been ecstatic at the change in their relationship, even if it was purely physical. Still, being reminded that Carlos was only using him to get off and barely liked him still stung and made his heart ache. He didn't give up hope though that maybe Carlos would come to see him differently, more like James wanted, if they just continued.

It was a rather futile hope, but still, it was better to hope James thought.

"Crass baboon," James laughed. Carlos made a face and put him in a playful headlock.

"Take it back rich boy," Carlos taunted. James shrieked and laughed, trying to pry Carlos' hands off of him.

"Never!" he cried. Carlos grinned before pushing James to the floor and climbing on top of him. He pinned James' wrists to the floor and straddled the other boy's hips. James stared up at him with dark eyes and Carlos smirked.

"What was that?" he asked. James opened his mouth but Carlos ground down against James and the taller boy let out a choked moan instead. Carlos chuckled as he felt James growing harder against him. James panted and glared up at Carlos.

"Tease," he pouted. Carlos shook his head and licked his lips.

"That would imply I don't intend to follow through. I very much intend to do so," Carlos purred. James groaned again and bucked up against Carlos.

"Please," he whined. Carlos chuckled and leaned down before brushing his lips against James' lightly.

"Patience," he whispered. James just groaned again. Carlos lightly slid his hands under James' shirt before pulling it off in one smooth motion before the other realized what he was doing. Carlos immediately attached his lips to James' collarbone, lightly biting and kissing before moving downward.

James panted and canted his hips upwards, trying to get more friction on his aching arousal. Carlos teasingly ground down and slipped one of his hands down to play with the hem of James' pants.

"What do you want?" Carlos whispered into the skin of James' stomach. James whimpered and fisted his hands in the carpet as he resisted the urge to grab Carlos' head and press it to his groin.

"You know what I want Carlos," James groaned. Carlos just laughed and bit the edge of James' bellybutton.

"But how can I know what you want if you don't tell me?" he teased. He pressed a hand down over James' arousal, squeezing lightly and earning a breathy moan from the brunette.

"More," James hissed out. Carlos licked his lips and squeezed again while his other hand quickly undid James' pants. He pulled his hand away, but before James could complain he pushed James' pants down and wrapped his hand around bare flesh. James moaned again and canted his hips upwards into the touch.

"Shit!"

Carlos smirked and released James quickly. He brought his hand up to his mouth and licked it before wrapping it around James again.

"What did you want again?" he asked. James glared weakly at Carlos.

"Fuck me already," he hissed. Carlos licked his lips again and smirked.

"With pleasure," he breathed out.

* * *

Kendall stood in the shadows of the doorway and watched in shock as Carlos and James got it on in the backroom. He blinked and decided he didn't want to watch any farther as the pants came off. He shook his head and turned around before heading back upstairs.

He vaguely wondered just when this started. Last he knew Carlos could barely stand to be in the same room as James voluntarily. Now they were having sex?

Logan would get a kick out of that.

The thought of Logan sobered him and he frowned. There was a sharp ache in his chest at the thought of the other boy that Kendall didn't like. He wanted that feeling gone. He wanted Logan back. Kendall gritted his teeth, resolve firming.

He would get Logan back. He wouldn't accept any other outcome.

* * *

Three days later found Kendall standing in the same spot he stood last time he met Jett. Kendall was considerably tenser this time however. Carlos had a calming hand laid on Kendall's shoulder, a small reminder to at least try to keep his cool.

Jett was standing in front of him, that same cocky smirk in place. Kendall just wanted to knock it off.

"How're you doing Kendall?" Jett asked casually. Kendall snarled at him and Carlos tightened his grip on Kendall's shoulder. Jett laughed, amused.

"I wonder what your boy toy would think right now. Logan, isn't it?" Jett taunted. Kendall gritted his teeth together but Jett didn't stop there.

"He's got quite the mouth on him, you know? A bit scrawny for me, a bit pale, but I can work with it." Jett smirked again, innuendo obvious, and Kendall saw red.

"Bastard!" He hissed and lunged forward. Carlos immediately wrapped his arms around Kendall's waist and hauled him backwards, not letting the blonde get his hands on Jett. Carlos grunted as Kendall's elbow struck him in the side.

"Kendall, you can't!" he yelled. Kendall just growled and clawed at Carlos' arms.

"Let me go Carlos," Kendall growled. Jett was just watching all this in amusement while his brunette companion looked slightly alarmed in comparison.

"Now, now, you really should calm down _Kendall_," Jett drawled. "If you lay a hand on me your precious Logan and baby sister will die." He smirked.

Kendall, and Carlos froze in shock. Carlos' arms dropped from around Kendall but the taller barely noticed. Kendall narrowed his eyes.

"My sister's already dead. She's been dead for three years," Kendall hissed. Jett just smirked.

"Is she now?" Kendall's eyes widened in shock and he gritted his teeth together.

"You… you have Katie?"

Jett laughed mockingly. "She's such a fragile little thing, you know?"

Kendall inhaled sharply and felt the rage bleeding back into him. Stetson had Logan and his _baby sister_.

"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast Kendall," Jett said when he saw Kendall getting ready to lunge at him again. Kendall snarled but froze when he remembered what Jett had said previously.

"If you want Logan and your precious sister back, you'll do what I say, got it?" Kendall's nostrils flared and he debated internally for a moment before stepping back and narrowing his eyes at Jett.

"What do you want?"

Jett smirked. "I want you to surrender to me. Give up everything. Give me control of your town and everyone and thing in it. And then I'll give you back Logan and Katie, and then, if I'm feeling generous, I'll put a bullet through your head."

Kendall stared at Jett blankly. "You expect me to… what?" Jett just continued to smirk. Kendall inhaled and rested his hand on the butt of his gun.

"Why? It would serve no purpose for you. You were chasing after a fairy tale and now you want the town."

"That's for me to know and you to never find out."

"I could just kill you right now and make one of your goonies show me to Logan and Katie." Jett shrugged nonchalantly.

"You could, but if you do that I assure you Logan and Katie will be dead before you can get to them. I've made sure of that, just in case."

Kendall's jaw clenched. "How long do I have to give you my… decision?"

"Three days," Jett said. "I'm feeling generous right now," he grinned. Kendall just nodded sharply.

"Then leave now before I change my mind and take my chances by killing you anyway." Jett bowed mockingly and backed away, his female companion by his side. Kendall and Carlos waited until he and his goonies had faded away.

As soon as they were out of sight Kendall yelled out in rage and kicked the car closest to him. Everyone who had gone with them watched Kendall warily, knowing just how furious he would be at the moment. Carlos stood back, stared, and wondered just what he should do.

It didn't help that he was still in shock himself. Katie was alive? After all these years? And she was with Jett? Just how long had Jett been planning this Carlos wondered vaguely.

"Kendall," he whispered. Kendall ignored him though and continued to kick one of the cars. Carlos frowned and looked around. The members were standing in place awkwardly, wondering what to do. Carlos jerked his head back towards the town, silently gesturing for them to get the hell out of there.

They were all too happy to comply. They scattered quickly to get away from their furious leader. Carlos saw Dak literally dragging a protesting James away and smiled faintly. He quickly wiped the expression from his face and turned back to Kendall.

"Kendall!" he shouted. Kendall spun around and glared at Carlos.

"He has them both," Kendall growled. Carlos nodded sympathetically.

"I now Ken," he said soothingly. Kendall breathed deeply and Carlos could see his hands shaking. Carlos stepped forward hesitantly. Kendall didn't react so Carlos took another step, and another one, until he was standing directly in front of the blonde.

"Kendall, we'll get them back, I promise," Carlos whispered soothingly. Kendall just gazed at Carlos who could read the fear in his eyes.

"What if we don't?" Kendall's voice broke on the last word, his vulnerability shining through. Carlos just dragged the blonde into a tight hug. Kendall clung to him and buried his head in Carlos' hair. Kendall shook a bit before stilling in Carlos' embrace.

They stayed that way for a few minutes before Kendall pulled slowly back. Carlos gazed up at him and smiled sadly. "Feeling better now?" Kendall nodded slowly and Carlos grinned happier now.

"Good. Now, we should probably go reassure everyone you aren't about to start a homicidal rampage through the town." Kendall snorted before bursting into laugher. Carlos laughed with him and the two started stumbling their way back into town.

* * *

Joe stared at the papers in front of him in shock. His hands shook a bit before he clenched them tightly, rumpling the paper a bit. He inhaled sharply and set them down on the floor in front of him. He had already confirmed for Kendall that the bank boxes they targeted belonged to Mr. Diamond.

Something hadn't felt right though, something had nagged him. He had wanted to dig deeper, so he did. He continued to spend the majority of each day in the bank, going through paperwork and bank records to try to find something, anything that would explain the gut reaction that there was _something_ more. Something to find.

Staring down at the papers in front of him, he realized he had just found what had been nagging him the whole time.

"I need to see Kendall," he whispered. He quickly gathered the documents together before hightailing it out of the bank.

* * *

Kendall, James and Carlos sat silently in the living room. James watched the other two warily, like he was waiting for them to snap. Kendall had been acting completely different when he got back from the meet with Jett and it made James suspicious.

Carlos on the other hand was just glad that Kendall wasn't hulking out anymore. Especially without Logan there to control him.

Kendall was trying to figure out a way to get to Logan and Katie before Jett figured it out. Which was when there was a frantic knocking at the door. All three of them looked at each other, bewildered.

"Were you expecting anyone?" James asked hesitantly. Kendall shook his head and a second later Carlos had his gun out and pointed at the door.

"It's me!" a familiar voice shouted a second later. "Let me in!"

Carlos and Kendall exchanged glances before Carlos got up and let Joe in. Joe rushed into the living room and slumped down next to Kendall. He held a bag in one hand and was panting heavily. Kendall glanced at him, amused.

"Did you run all the way here?" Joe shot him a dirty look.

"I have important information for you and you make fun of me. I see how it is boss." Kendall laughed and waved the sarcasm away.

"I'm sorry Joe. Now please, tell me your very important information."

Joe grumbled but pulled some papers out of his bag. Carlos took a seat next to James, the two of them sitting a bit closer than normal. All three of them watched as Joe arranged the papers before handing them to Kendall.

Kendall took them and glanced through them, eyes narrowing in concentration. "What, exactly, am I reading Joe?" he asked finally. Joe grinned and bounced a bit.

"I'm glad you asked. Now let me see," he grabbed the papers from an amused Kendall before putting one on top and handing the stack back. "Look at this one."

Kendall scanned it and shrugged. "I still don't see-" he trailed off and Joe smiled knowingly.

"What you have there is the employee account information for one Jeff Davis. He oversaw the Diamond account there. As well," Joe pointed to one name in particular that Kendall was already staring at, "as the Stetson accounts."

Carlos and James sat up abruptly. "He worked for the Stetsons?" Carlos asked. Joe nodded and Kendall's hand tightened around the paper.

Jeff Davis and his family were some of the people that resided in town. Quiet and rule-abiding. They had never caused any trouble.

"There's more?" Kendall asked tightly. Joe nodded and grabbed the stack again. He shuffled the papers once more before spreading three different papers out in front of Kendall. Kendall looked at them, trying to see just what was so important.

They were records of money transfers from the same account to each of the three different ones. All of the accounts were under Davis' control as well. Kendall inhaled sharply as he saw the names attached to them.

"Jordan, Carly and Liam?" he breathed. The papers showed various transactions between the Stetson account to Jordan, Carly and Liam each. All before the epidemic.

"They worked for the Stetsons? They _work_ for Stetson?" he continued. Joe nodded silently and Kendall growled before swiping the papers off of the couch.

"Damnit!"

The four of them sat in silence for a few minute, the information that Joe brought them sinking in. Until it was broken by a soft curse.

"Shit."

All attention turned to Carlos who was looking a bit pale. "Carlos?" James questioned. Carlos stared at Kendall with wide eyes.

"Liam was the one who should have patrolled the bank area around the time of the break in. I pulled him though to help with the disturbance on Cooper so no one was scheduled to be there. I didn't think about it before because no one would have been there at the time we estimated the break in occurred anyway, not that we knew of at least.

"And Jordan should have been on Main when Jimmy was shot, but since I switched up the schedules at the last minute they likely didn't have a chance to send word about the change, so Jimmy was killed when he wasn't who they were expecting."

Carlos shook a bit and James immediately wrapped a comforting arm around him. Joe and Kendall exchanged looks.

"Where are they now?" Kendall questioned. Joe thought for a second.

"Jordan and Carly are probably at home, but Liam I think is on patrol…?" Joe looked at Carlos for confirmation. Carlos nodded and gathered himself together.

"Yeah, Jordan and Carly aren't scheduled to be on patrol for another three hours and Liam should be getting off of patrol in about an hour."

Kendall nodded and gazed down at the couch for a minute. "Get Lucy, Dak, Rafael, Luke and Jim. I want Luke to go get Davis. Send Lucy, Dak, Rafael and Jim after the other three. Bring them to the police station. Joe, you have the keys, right?"

Joe nodded and Kendall hummed. "Yeah, bring them there. Don't tell them what for either. If they try to resist…" Kendall grinned, bloodthirsty. "Use force."

Carlos nodded and started to smirk himself. "Of course."

He got up, James' arm dropping from his shoulders. He stepped out of the room and a minute later they all heard the front door open and close. Kendall looked to Joe.

"We should head over there now and get things ready." Joe nodded and they both stood up. Kendall looked over at James and quirked a brow. "You coming? Don't tell me you don't want to."

James immediately stood up and Kendall chuckled a bit. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

Kendall was waiting in the biggest interrogation room they had when he heard them arrive.

"I-I'm confused, what is this about?" a man stuttered out. The door opened a moment later and Luke appeared with Jeff Davis being held by the arm. As soon as Jeff caught sight of Kendall he paled and started to shake. Kendall smirked and gestured grandly at one of the four chairs set up against the far wall.

"Come in Jeff, take a seat, make yourself comfortable," he said sarcastically. Jeff stumbled all the way to one of the chairs where he proceeded to collapse and fold in on himself. Kendall snorted and turned to Luke.

"You can go, thanks." Luke nodded and left silently. Kendall turned to look at Jeff and studied him. The man was whimpering into his knees and rocking back and forth. He rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall of the room.

A moment later the door opened again and Carlos stood there grinning. He stepped aside a moment later and Lucy, Dak, Rafael and Jim appeared with Carly, Jordan and Liam. Liam and Jordan were a bit roughed up and Carly had a split lip and bloody nose.

Kendall smirked. Lucy looked rather proud as she kicked Carly into the room. Carly stumbled and Jordan moved forward to help her but Dak jerked him back with a warning growl.

"Sit them down with Davis," Kendall said and gestured to the chairs. All three of them jerked and looked up with wide eyes at Davis' name. They didn't get a chance to do anything about it as Lucy, Dak, Jim and Rafael forced them forward and into the chairs around Jeff.

Carlos stepped forward to stand next to Kendall as the other four stepped back. "Thanks guys." They nodded and quietly left the room. Kendall knew they would be joining Luke, James and Joe on the other side of the two way mirror on the right wall.

The four traitors sat silently against the wall, with the exception of Davis' light whimpering.

"You all know why you're here," Carlos stated. The four remained silent though Jeff did look up from his knees. Kendall walked forward and stood in front of them. He scanned them and noticed that of the four, only Jeff looked sorry.

All four of them looked slightly terrified though. Not that Kendall blamed them.

"Now, are we going to do this the hard way, or are you guys going to cooperate?" He asked. Jeff whimpered and looked down again. Carly looked to the side and Liam looked at the floor. Only Jordan met Kendall's gaze unflinchingly.

"What, exactly, do you want to know?" Jordan asked blandly.

"Where is Jett hiding?"

"Away from here," Jordan smirked. Kendall rolled his eyes and put a hand back. Carlos handed him something and Kendall wrapped his fingers around it. He pulled his hand forward and looked at the gun. It was one of Carlos' and a bit heavier than he was used to but it would do.

He grinned at Jordan before pointing it at Carly and pulling the trigger. Carly cried out as the bullet struck her in the foot. Jordan cried out with her and lunged forward to cradle Carly to him.

"If you don't start cooperating the next bullet goes in her knee," Kendall said over the sound of Carly's high pitched whining. "After that it'll be her shoulder. And after that…" Kendall paused and smirked. "Well, I'm sure you know."

"Fine! Fine, I'll talk, just… please, don't shoot her anymore," Jordan begged.

"Jordan!" Liam scolded. Jordan shot a glare at the other boy.

"No Liam, I don't care. I'm not letting Carly get hurt for me," Jordan insisted. Liam scowled but sat back and didn't complain again.

"Now, let's try this again. Where is Jett hiding?" Kendall asked.

"In the woods, at a camp about a two hour walk north from here."

Kendall nodded and hummed lightly. "What did you four do for Jett? What have you told him?"

Jordan tightened his grip on Carly's foot and gritted his teeth as he answered. "We mostly just spied and passed along anything that seemed important to Jett's final plan. If the camp was running low on supplies then we'd steal some, not enough to be noticed, and pass it along.

"We passed along the patrol routes and times and who was scheduled for each section, though that information is useless now."

Kendall and Carlos exchanged a look. "What's Jett's final plan? Is he trying to get to the safe haven that Mr. Diamond was going to?"

Jordan, Liam and Carly looked shocked while Jeff was still buried in his knees. "How do you know about that?" Liam demanded.

"How does Jett?" Carlos countered.

Liam scowled and opened his mouth but Kendall brought the gun up before he could answer. He casually pointed it at Liam who got the silent message. Liam groaned. "His father used to work with Mr. Diamond and Mr. Diamond told him all about it before he died."

"So then what is exactly is he planning? And why does he want Kendall to give up control of the town to him?"

Liam scoffed. "For the supplies. He plans to kill Kendall and anyone who opposes him. Then he'll give the others a chance to come with him to the safe haven. He'll strip the town of anything useful, including any cars that can still run and all the gas. Then we'll head out to safety," Liam proudly proclaimed.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Oh spare me. If you actually believe that this supposed safe haven exists, or is still 'safe' then you're an idiot."

Liam scowled but didn't any anything more. Kendall shook his head and turned to the two-way mirror. "Take these idiots and put them in the cells. Put them all in separate cells if you can manage it. And get some bandages and peroxide for Carly."

The door opened a moment later and Dak, Lucy, Luke, Rafael and Jim piled into the room. Carly, Jordan, Liam and Jeff were taken from the room shortly after. Kendall saw Lucy deliberately 'accidentally' slam Carly into the doorframe as she hauled the woman out of the room.

Kendall grinned and turned to Carlos. "Tell everyone to meet me out front when they're done, okay?"

Carlos nodded and followed them out of the room. Kendall met James out in the hallway as he stepped out of the interrogation room. James smiled grimly. Kendall just sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Come on, let's go wait out front." James nodded and they fell into step towards the front door.

* * *

"So how're we gonna do this?" Lucy asked. They were all gathered in front of the police station and digesting the information they had just learned.

"We're going to that… camp, to get Logan and Katie back of course!" James said. Carlos grinned a bit and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Yes, that's obvious. What I meant is _how_ are we going to go about this rescue mission?" James blushed in embarrassment before glaring at her and opening his mouth to say something. Kendall rolled his eyes and interrupted before it could spiral out of control.

"Children, really?" he asked blandly. Lucy looked away and James huffed. "Can we focus now?" Lucy and James nodded and Kendall nodded.

"Great. Now, first things first. We have the element of surprise, so we're gonna use it. Joe, I want you to find a map of the woods that will show this camp that Jett is using. As soon as possible." Joe nodded and Kendal continued.

"Once we have it we're gonna study it, make sure we know the area as well as they do. We'll wait until three days from now, when Jett is expecting to meet up again. We'll leave early, before sunup, and hopefully catch them unaware."

They nodded and Kendall jerked his head. "Get going Joe. Dak, lock down the rest of the Davis family. I doubt they're involved but just in case. The rest of you, let everyone else know to get ready and to stop by to see Joe once he has the map so that they can get their turn at memorizing it.

"Not everyone will be going but everyone should memorize the map just in case."

Everyone nodded. "Good. Now get out of my sight."

They got. Kendall turned to Carlos and James and sighed. "Let's get home and wait for Joe to find that map."

* * *

A few days later found Kendall, Carlos, and most of his members tracking through the woods towards the camp that Jett had taken over as his home. There were only about ten people left to guard the town, but if things went as planned then it would be more than enough.

They were only a few minutes away from the camp when the sun started to break over the horizon. Kendall stopped and leaned against a tree. The others stopped and hid behind nearby trees as well. Kendall and Carlos exchanged looks.

Kendall glanced down at his watch and glanced at the time. They had about five minutes before the time that Kendall had designated for them to storm the camp.

"We made good time," he whispered. Carlos nodded and took a drink from his water bottle. He put it back in his bag and looked around, checking everyone's positions. The majority of them looked amped and ready to go.

A few of them looked nervous and the rest just didn't seem to care. Carlos grinned a bit and glanced back at Kendall. "You ready for this?"

Kendall grinned, bloodthirsty and vicious. "Definitely," he raised his voice a bit to make sure everyone could hear him. "And remember: Jett is mine."

Everyone nodded and Carlos smirked. They sat in silence for the rest of the five minutes, and as soon as the time ticked over they were up and jogging towards the camp site. It came into sight within a minute or two and everyone split up. Kendall was slightly surprised to see that Jett didn't appear to have a patrol, but then he remembered that Jett wasn't always as smart as he appeared or pretended to be.

Then the screaming started. There were some gunshots in the distance and then people started to stream out of the buildings. Someone raised a gun and pointed it at him and he put a bullet through their brain without hesitation.

Carlos did the same beside him and Kendall scanned the campground for Jett. "Do you see him?" He asked Carlos before shooting someone else. Carlos shook his head, his own eyes scanning the ground.

"Not yet, but he's gotta be here somewhere."

Kendall saw Dak dart between two buildings farther up. Kendall watched him for a second before turning his attention away. He had assigned Dak to find Logan and Katie and if anyone could do it, it was Dak.

"Kendall!"

The duo jerked around to see Jett standing there and holding a gun with a shaky hand, pointed straight at Kendall. Carlos immediately focused his own gun on Jett who looked pissed. Kendall smirked a bit and cocked a hip.

"You look a bit stressed Jett, why's that?" Jett gritted his teeth together before yelling in rage. His finger tightened on the trigger before Kendall whipped his own gun out and put a bullet in Jett's shin. Jett cried out in pain this time and dropped, his gun falling to the ground next to him.

Kendall slowly walked up to him and pressed his gun to Jett's temple. Jett froze and stared up at Kendall with hatred in his eyes. Around them Kendall's men were taking control, the majority of the people already subdued with just a few left.

Kendall smirked. "In case you didn't realize, this is my answer to your _generous_ proposal." Jett just scowled and pressed his hands over the bullet wound seeping blood on his thigh.

* * *

Logan jerked awake and his arm reflexively tightened around Katie's entirely too small form. He glanced down at the fifteen year old to make sure she was still asleep before glancing in the direction of the door and listening. Something woke him up, but he wasn't sure what yet.

Then he heard it. Gunshots and shouting. His eyes widened and he immediately moved, carefully, so that he wouldn't wake Katie up. He maneuvered himself so that he was crouching in front of her and ignored the pain radiating through his body.

Behind him Katie moved and Logan tensed, hoping she hadn't woken up. She hadn't, and Logan relaxed a bit before he returned his attention to the door. He could hear people running around outside and wondered what was happening.

The doorknob jingled and Logan inhaled. It jiggled again before the door was pushed roughly open. Standing framed in the doorway was someone Logan had seen occasionally when Jett had come to _visit_ him. Logan swallowed and the man grinned and raised a gun towards them.

Logan shook, terrified, but determined to protect himself, or at the very least Katie. He wouldn't let her die, not now. Not after three years. He crouched a bit lower, prepared to launch himself at the guy and try to wrestle him for the gun. Before he could though a gunshot rang out and the man collapsed, blood seeping from his head.

Logan raised his wide eyes to see Dak standing behind the man's fallen form. Logan's eyes stared to water a bit and Dak stepped over the man's body before he grinned at Logan.

"You're just a little troublemaker, aren't you Mitchell?" Dak teased. Logan choked out a laugh and whipped a hand across his eyes.

"You know you love bailing me out Zevon." Dak just grinned and walked forward to pull Logan into a tight hug. Logan flinched, mind flashing, but he pushed it away and clung to Dak. Dak rubbed his back soothingly and Logan had to push away the urge to sob and melt into the older man.

"Is that Katie?" Dak whispered. Logan pulled away and glanced behind him. Katie was still sleeping on the dirty mattress they had shared for the past couple of day. Logan nodded and turned back to Dak.

"Yeah, that's her. What's happening Dak? Is Kendall here?"

Dak nodded and winked at Logan. "Kendall was pissed, as you can imagine, to find out that Jett took you. I think I saw him holding Jett at gunpoint but I can't be sure. We've taken over. We're getting you two out of here."

Logan shuddered and gripped Dak tighter. "I need to wake up Katie," he whispered. Dak nodded and Logan pulled back and kneeled beside the bed. He brushed the hair off of Katie's face before gently shaking her shoulder as Dak stood guard behind them.

"Katie? Katie, sweetie, wake up, come on. We need to go meet Kendall," he whispered. Katie stirred and mumbled in her sleep. Logan smiled softly and shook her a bit harder. "Come on Katie, you need to get up now."

Katie's eyes slowly blinked open. "Logan? What-" she caught sight of Dak and tensed up. Logan shushed her and laid a calming hand on Katie's cheek to guide her attention back to him.

"No, he's a friend. This is Dak," he gestured behind him towards Dak who smiled and waved at Katie. "He works for Kendall. He's here to save us and bring us to your brother. Don't you want to see him again?"

Katie nodded and whimpered a bit. "Yes," she croaked out. Logan smiled again and stood up.

"Come on then." He gently helped her up and Katie clung to him on weak legs. He helped her walk towards the door, both of them going slowly. Katie had been confined to that room most of the three years she had been there and had been sitting or lying most of that time so it would take her a while to get used to walking, especially for long periods of time or distance.

Dak walked slowly behind them, finger resting near the trigger just in case. Logan and Katie blinked wildly as they stepped out into the morning sun, their eyes unused to the light after being confined mostly in darkness.

"This way," Dak whispered and pointed them towards the left. They slowly made their way in that direction until they hit a crowd of people. Logan recognized some of them, and the rest he assumed were the people who lived here.

Dak gently pushed the people aside and created a path for Logan and Katie. A path was soon formed to the center of the circle and Logan could see Kendall and Carlos in front of a kneeling Jett. The brunette girl was kneeling beside him as well, face blank.

They walked closer and Logan could make out Kendall talking to Jett, voice low. He couldn't quite hear what he was saying but Logan could guess what it was, knowing Kendall. Katie's eyes were glued onto her brother and Logan could tell she was getting ready to cry out.

He squeezed the arm around her and when she looked at him shook his head. She frowned but Logan gave her a look, silently asking her to trust him. She nodded reluctantly and they both turned their attention back to the scene in front of them.

"I'll be generous and give you a choice Jett," Kendall was saying, voice suddenly loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You can either get a bullet through the head by me, or I can leave it up to the 'general public' on what to do with you." Kendall gestured behind him towards all the people. Logan could hear the people start to murmur amongst themselves, and from the few snippets of conversation that he could hear, none of them really liked Jett. They had been afraid of him, but now that he was at the mercy of someone else…

"I'd hurry up too. Before you die of blood loss." Kendall pointed down to Jett's leg where Logan could make out a growing dark patch on the shin of his leg. Jett scowled and scoffed.

"Like I'd give you the satisfaction of killing me Knight." Kendall just smirked, like he knew something Jett didn't. Which he probably did.

"Suit yourself. So guys, what do you want to do with him?" he glanced around casually but didn't look in their direction. Logan wasn't sure if he was relieved or sad about that.

The people seemed to talk amongst themselves before people started to call things out.

"Leave him for the chem-heads!"

"Let the cannibals get him!"

"Let him bleed out!"

"Beat him!"

"Shoot him!"

"Burn him!"

"Stone him to death!"

Logan was kinda shocked by some of the suggestions, but he couldn't say that he was completely opposed to some of them. Not after the way Jett had treated him and Katie. And if he had treated the people here like he had treated them… well then Logan could understand the hostility.

A lot of them looked underfed and sick, and Logan would bet that he didn't really take care of them and only looked after the people he deemed useful.

Kendall was grinning viciously and Jett was starting to look worried. "Hope you weren't expecting them to save you Jett. Looks like they want you dead more than I do," Kendall taunted. Jett swallowed before he mustered up some courage and glared up at Kendall.

"Just shoot me," he muttered. Kendall tilted his head to the side and feigned confusion.

"I'm sorry, what was that Jett?"

Jett growled and spat at Kendall. "Just shoot me you bastard!" Kendall smirked and brought his gun back up and pointed it at Jett.

"Any last words, Stetson?"

"Go to hell," Jett spat.

"You first," Kendall deadpanned. Logan shielded Katie's eyes as the gunshot rang out. People started to cheer as Jett's lifeless body slumped to the ground. Katie clutched Logan tighter and Logan ran a hand through her hair comfortingly.

Kendall's attention was turned to the brunette girl now who was shaking and gazing at Jett's lifeless body in shock.

"What's your name?" Kendall asked quietly. The girl looked up at him, frightened, but managed to stutter it out.

"C-Ca-Camille."

Kendall nodded. "Camille, I'm going to give you a choice. You can have the same fate as Jett here," Kendall toed Jett's body before turning back to Camille. "Or you can come work for me. The moment you make a move to betray me though, you're dead," Kendall warned.

Camille nodded frantically. "You! I want to work for you, please, please don't kill me," Camille begged. Kendall studied her for a moment before nodding.

"That's settled then." Camille sobbed gratefully and hunched over. Kendall watched her for a moment before sighing and turning to Carlos. They whispered back and forth for a moment before Kendall turned around and addressed the crowd.

"You guys have two options!" he stated loudly so that everyone could hear him. "One, you guys can come back and live in town with us. I'm strict, but fair, and you'd have food to eat. Or," he said, glancing around to see reactions. "You guys could stay here. I can have some people stay here to help you guys learn how to properly defend yourselves, and if you need it you guys could come to us for help. But you guys would otherwise be completely independent."

The people were muttering to each other again and Logan watched the crowd. A few people seemed to be considering his offer to live in town, but Logan kinda hoped that not many would take him up on it. It would be hard to feed the people they already had in the coming months. Adding more people would just make it more difficult.

Someone stepped forward a second later and the man smiled at Kendall gratefully. "You're kind, and we thank you for what you've done for us," he gestured to Jett, "but I think we'd like to stay here. It's not a bad place, and now that he's out of the way we'll be able to feed ourselves."

Kendall nodded and Logan suspected that he'd expected that response. "Of course. My offer for help still stands if you need it though." The man smiled and held out a hand.

"Thank you." Kendall shrugged and shook it. People started to cheer and Logan smiled, proud. Dak nudged him then and Logan turned to see Dak making a face at him. Logan blinked and Dak rolled his eyes.

"Go now you idiot!" Dak hissed and pushed Logan forward. He and Katie both stumbled and Logan gasped loudly. Kendall and the man turned to see what had happened and Kendall froze. Logan looked up and locked eyes with Kendall.

Logan smiled softly and glanced down at Katie, who was looking at Kendall tearfully. "Go on," he whispered and nudged her forward. Kendall's eyes flew down to Katie and he inhaled. Logan could see Kendall silently mouthing Katie's name and the two just stared at each other for a second.

Then something seemed to snap and Katie flew forward into Kendall's arms crying loudly. Kendall clutched his baby sister tightly and buried his face in her hair. Logan smiled as he watched the family reunion.

He wanted to run forward into Kendall's arms himself, but he wouldn't begrudge either of the Knight siblings this moment.

Kendall glanced up though and caught Logan's eye. Kendall nodded at him gratefully and Logan just shrugged. The look in Kendall's eye though promised that they would get their reunion later. Logan just nodded and Kendall grinned before returning his attention to Katie.

Logan watched for a moment longer before turning to Dak who was still standing next to him. "Is anyone hurt?" he asked. Dak nodded hesitantly and Logan frowned.

"Gather all the wounded together and then get any medical supplies that the camp has. I'll take care of them as best I can. Anything too serious we'll have to bring back to town though."

Dak protested. "Logan, you're still hurt and weak yourself, let someone else-"

Logan held up a hand and Dak fell silent. Logan smiled grimly at the other. "You know that I'm the best we have. I'm not going to sit back and not help if someone's hurt, okay? Now stop complaining and do it," Logan ordered.

Dak looked reluctant but didn't protest this time. "Yes sir," he intoned robotically. Dak turned and ran off to do as Logan had ordered, grabbing a few other people along the way. Logan sighed in relief once Dak was out of sight and looked around, silently taking note of anyone who might need medical attention.

His body was still screaming at him, but Logan pushed the pain away, instead focusing on things he deemed more important. Because if he didn't, he'd break down himself. And he couldn't afford that. Not right now. Now, it was time to work.

He would deal with everything else later.

* * *

Taking care of everything took most of the day, and by the time everyone managed to trudge home it was almost sundown. A few people had stayed behind to help with the camp's defense. The people were grateful and offered to let them all stay the night, but they refused. They wanted (needed) to go home.

Logan had been vaguely surprised that James didn't ambush them at the border, though that wasn't a bad thing. Of course, the moment Logan stepped through the door of their home it was a completely different story.

"Logan!"

A blur rushed through the room and then a second later Logan was almost bowled over by an excited James. "You're home! You're safe! Oh thank god," James intoned.

Logan winced a bit, but laughed and hugged James back. "Yeah, yeah, I'm back now. We brought one extra too," Logan said and gestured behind him. James furrowed his brow and looked. James and Katie locked eyes and the girl shrunk behind her brother. James stepped back from Logan and smiled at her.

"Katie, right? I've heard… a little about you. I'm James Diamond. It's nice to finally meet you." James stepped forward hesitantly and held a hand out to the young girl. Katie stared at it and everyone else watched her. She glanced up at Kendall and then back at the hand before hesitantly reaching forward and grasping it with her own.

"Nice to meet you too," she mumbled. James just beamed at her. None of them missed the way he scanned her form and frowned at how obviously underfed she was. He didn't let on though and just gestured behind him.

"You look a bit tired, do you want to lay down?" he asked quietly. Katie glanced up at Kendall again before she looked back at James and nodded slowly.

"A-a bit, yeah."

"You can take my bed," Kendall cut in. Everyone looked at him and Katie looked like she was about to protest but Kendall shook his head. "It's fine, I can get one of the extra mattresses from the storage room or share with Logan. Take my bed," he insisted.

Katie nodded hesitantly and Kendall smiled softly at her. "Why don't you go ahead and go up? James can show you which bed is mine. I'll be up there in a minute to say goodnight, okay?"

Katie nodded silently again and James bounced a bit before holding a hand out to the younger Knight. "Come on, let's get you into bed," James winked exaggeratedly and grinned and Logan panicked momentarily, wondering how Katie would react after everything she had been through. Katie surprised him though.

She smiled a tiny bit, barely there, and reached forward to grab James' hand with her own. It was still a bit hesitant but James just wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed it comfortingly. They two of them walked upstairs slowly, James helping her and whispering things that seemed to relax her and even had her laughing a bit.

Logan watched the scene fondly and realized that Katie was a lot stronger mentally than he gave her credit for.

"Carlos, take first watch, will you?" Kendall spoke up from behind. Logan turned around to see Carlos nodding and giving Kendall a knowing look. Carlos quickly disappeared, leaving only Kendall and Logan standing there.

They watched each other silently for a moment before Kendall spoke up. "Meet me in the back room?" he whispered. Logan nodded silently and Kendall nodded back before he swept past Logan and upstairs, very carefully making sure he didn't touch the shorter male.

Logan exhaled shakily before heading to the backroom. The sun had finally descended on the horizon and the house was thrown into darkness, with the exception of the few candles that James had lit in the kitchen and living room. Thankfully though, Logan had long memorized the layout of the house and was able to make it to the backroom without running into anything.

Lighting the fireplace was a bit trickier, but after a minute or two of fumbling blindly in the dark he managed it. He sat back and sighed. A sound from behind him had him turning and almost falling over in surprise. The person chuckled and Logan relaxed as he recognized Kendall.

Logan slowly stood and the two of them stared at each other in silence. The tension between them was palpable. Kendall took a small step forward and Logan broke. He lunged forward and Kendall caught him in his arms like he was expecting it.

He probably was.

Logan clung to Kendall and sobbed, all the pent up emotion that he hadn't allowed himself to express coming out. Kendall just held him gently and let Logan cry it out.

"It's okay, it's okay, ssh, you're safe now Logan, I promise," Kendall whispered soothingly. Logan just gripped Kendall tighter and dug his nails into the fabric of Kendall's shirt. Kendall winced a bit as Logan's nails gripped some skin but he ignored the pain.

"Come on, over here," Kendall whispered and guided Logan over to the sofa. Kendall sat down gingerly and pulled Logan down into his lap. Logan shifted and wrapped his arms around Kendall's neck. Kendall gingerly ran a hand through Logan's hair and tugged lightly on the strands.

Kendall started to hum a little before he started to sing under his breath, just loud enough to Logan to hear.

"_When the night comes, and you lay your weary head to rest _

_No more trials, no tests _

_When the night comes _

_When the night comes , you don't have to be afraid, of any choice you made _

_When the night comes, don't be afraid, you're only dreaming_

_When the night comes_

_The headlines read, whatever's in your dreams _

_When the night comes_

_When the night comes, and you lay by the one you love, _

_The one who knows you and the things you do _

_When the night comes_

_Don't be afraid, you're only dreaming…_

_When the night comes…"_

Logan slowly calmed down until he was breathing gently against the skin of Kendall's neck. "You feeling better now?" Kendall whispered. Logan nodded and tightened his arms around Kendall's neck.

"Yeah, yeah I… sorry, for, you know…" Logan pulled back a bit and gestured to their current position. Kendall chuckled and pulled Logan back to him.

"It's fine Logan, I'm more concerned about you. Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

Logan nodded hesitantly and something in the way Kendall spoke triggered a warning in his mind. He pulled back and looked into Kendall's eyes searchingly. Kendall stared back blankly and Logan swallowed. His lower lip trembled as he spoke slowly.

"You… You know… don't you?" Kendall didn't even pretend not to know what Logan was talking about. He nodded and Logan let out a choked sob. He tried to scramble away, upset, but Kendall just held him tighter.

"No, no, stop, let go of me, I'm disgusting, how, why-?!"

Kendall growled and pinned Logan's arms to his sides. Logan continued to struggle weakly but Kendall just growled again and glared.

"Stop trying to get away," he snapped. Logan immediately fell still and stared at Kendall with wide, slightly fearful eyes. Kendall's expression softened when he saw that and he brought one hand up hesitantly to cup Logan's cheek.

Logan swallowed and resisted the urge to lean into the hand like a lovesick fool. Kendall sighed and gently stroked across Logan's cheek with his thumb.

"Logan, you are _not_ disgusting. It's not your fault and there's nothing wrong with you. You were…. Assaulted, against your will, and the only person who's to blame is the person who assaulted you," Kendall said firmly.

Logan inhaled and looked down. He mumbled something and Kendall blinked. "What?" Logan repeated it again, barely louder than last time and Kendall shook his head. "I didn't-"

"I said it was more than one person!" Logan yelled. Kendall froze, eyes wide, and Logan started breathing erratically and his eyes glazed over. Kendall immediately brought his hands up to cup Logan's face and tried to make Logan focus on him.

"Logan, Logan, you're not at the camp anymore, you're home, you're safe. They can't hurt you anymore. Come on, come back to me Logan, it's okay," Kendall muttered. He leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to Logan's forehead.

Logan's eyes fluttered and he slowly focused on Kendall. Kendall smiled at the smaller boy and rubbed their noses together lightly. "You okay?"

Logan nodded sheepishly and Kendall just smiled understandingly. "It's okay Logan, I understand. We'll get through this, together, okay? I won't let you deal with this yourself."

Logan frowned a bit and Kendall frowned with him. "What?" he asked. Logan opened his mouth then closed it before finally speaking.

"Why… why would you want to help me? I mean, yeah, we're best friends but…" Logan trailed off, obviously confused and Kendall took pity on him. He wrapped his arms around Logan's waist and pulled the boy closer. Logan gasped in surprise and his hands came up to rest on Kendall's chest in response.

"Logan…" Kendall trailed off as he tried to think of how to start. "You're my best friend, but you're also more, and honestly I don't think I could live without you. You… center me. You keep me in control. I… really like you."

Logan gaped at Kendall, but the other wasn't done yet. "I stayed here for you, you know," Kendall revealed suddenly. Logan frowned.

"What do you mean? I… huh?"

Kendall chuckled and rubbed the small of Logan's back comfortingly. "I hate it here Logan. I didn't want to stay. I was so ready to leave, get on the road with you and Carlos after... after Katie, and mom. I can barely stand this place or the people. But you, you wanted to stay. And I'm not sure if you've noticed or not Logan, but I'd do just about anything for you, including kill."

Logan's eyes were wide and Kendall smiled a little. "So I stayed here and helped the town, because it's where you wanted to be and because it would make you happy."

Logan was shaking in Kendall's embrace but this time it wasn't because of fear. Logan swallowed a little and his voice cracked as he spoke. "Kendall… wh-what are you saying?"

"I don't love you," Kendall made clear. Logan's face fell but before he could say anything Kendall continued. "But I know I will. Logan, I _do_ love you, just not like that. But loving you is… easy. And I don't think it would take much to make that love romantic. You just need to keep being you," Kendall teased lightly.

Logan flushed and bit back the shy smile that wanted to break free. "So you… want to be with me?" Logan clarified. Kendall nodded and leaned Logan forward to rest their foreheads together.

"Nothing would make me happier," Kendall whispered. Logan finally smiled tentatively and slid his hands upwards so that they rested on Kendall's neck just below Kendall's jawline.

"So… can I kiss you?" Logan asked hesitantly. Kendall chuckled a bit and brought one hand up to cradle the back of Logan's head.

"If you want. I won't do anything you aren't ready for," Kendall promised fervently. Logan nodded and shot Kendall a fond look full of adoration.

"I know, you're a good person Kendall, despite what people think, that's one of the reasons I love you," Logan admitted. Kendall's lips quirked.

"Listen to you, you sweet talker," Kendall gently teased. Logan flushed again and Kendall laughed. Logan frowned and opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Kendall swiftly leaning forward and gently pressing their lips together.

Logan froze, shocked, before he melted into the gesture. Kendall kept the kiss short and sweet and pulled back a moment later. Logan blinked and looked at him dumbly, a bit dazed from the unexpected kiss. Kendall frowned at Logan's unresponsiveness.

"Logan, you okay?"

Logan blinked again and focused his eyes on Kendall's. "Kendall?" he whispered.

"Yeah babe?"

"Kiss me again," Logan breathed. Kendall smirked.

"With pleasure," he purred before leaning forward and doing just that.

* * *

Later that night Logan slipped into bed, making sure not to disturb James and Katie across the room, and Kendall slipped into bed with him. Laying there in the circle of Kendall's arms was the best sleep Logan had gotten since the epidemic took over.

He was only disturbed once that night, when he woke up to find Katie standing at the end of the bed watching him and Kendall sleep with wide eyes. Logan just sighed and held the blanket up invitingly. Katie scrambled into the bed which was already a tight fit with only Logan and Kendall. She settled down on the other side of Logan and curled into his chest.

Logan only sighed sleepily and pulled her closer, like they had slept back at the camp before pressing a kiss to the top of her head and falling back to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning Kendall was gone and it was just him and Katie on the bed. The early morning sun was shining through the window. Logan groaned and looked across the room. James' bed was empty, much to his shock, and he could smell food cooking downstairs. His eyes widened and he scrambled out of bed, only to be stopped by a sleepy voice.

"Mm, Logan? Where are you going?" He glanced back to see Katie slowly sitting up in bed and rubbing at her eyes. Logan's gaze softened and he moved back to kneel on the bed.

"I'm sorry for waking you Katie. I'm just going downstairs to get some breakfast, are you hungry?" he ran his hand soothingly through her hair. She blinked up at him in surprise before her rumbling stomach answered Logan's question for her.

Katie blushed and Logan laughed gently. "Well that answers that. Ready to go eat your first meal as a free woman… again?" Logan grinned. Katie nodded slowly before climbing carefully out of the bed. Logan hovered around her and wrapped an arm around her waist as they started to make their way downstairs.

As they approached the kitchen Logan could hear the sound of quiet conversation, the type that's used when you're trying to avoid disturbing someone. When Logan and Katie entered the conversation ceased. Logan was vaguely surprised to find that the conversation was taking place between Kendall, James and Carlos. It was rare for all three of them to be up before him.

"You're cooking," Logan said surprised. Kendall was standing in front of the portable stove. Kendall shrugged and cut off the heat to the stove.

"Well you weren't up yet and we wanted to let you two sleep some more, you know, after…" he trailed off and Logan swallowed.

"Thanks," he whispered. Kendall nodded and smiled a little. A light pressure around his waist reminded Logan of Katie's presence. He glanced down to see Katie staring at the food that was already on the table with hunger. Logan grinned and nudged her forward. She looked up at him with wide eyes and Logan nodded.

"Go ahead," he said encouragingly. Katie looked back and the other three were smiling at her as well.

"It's okay," Kendall whispered. "Eat as much as you can, I'm sure you're hungry," Kendall continued. Katie swallowed before moving forward and taking a seat at the table. Carlos put together a plate of food for her out of the veritable feast that Kendall had prepared.

Logan would have been concerned about the amount of food left in their stores, but he figured this once he'd ignore that, for Katie. It just meant that they'd have to skip the big Sunday breakfast for a week… or four.

Katie picked up a piece of meat tentatively and chewed on it. As soon as she had swallowed it was like a switch had gone off in her head. She started to scarf down the food frantically and slightly messily. Logan darted forward and rubbed a hand across her back.

"Slow down a bit Katie, we don't want you to get sick." Katie swallowed what was in her mouth before looking up at Logan guiltily. Logan just laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"You can keep eating, just slow down a bit, okay?" Katie nodded and started to eat again, though this time considerably slower than before. They watched her eat a bit longer before the four of them made their own plates of food.

Logan moved to his regular seat next to Kendall a bit uncertainly. He knew that he and Kendall were _together_ now, at least, that's what he assumed after last night. However he didn't know how he should act around him now. If he should act the same, if he would be able to act 'closer' to Kendall now… if Kendall even wanted people to know.

Kendall took care of that though by leaning over and pressing a quick kiss to Logan's lips as he sat down.

"Morning," Kendal whispered. Logan flushed and his eyes widened.

"M-morning," he stuttered back. Kendall chuckled as he leaned away and started to eat his food. Logan glanced up and saw James grinning madly at him while Carlos just smirked smugly at them. James winked suggestively and Logan flushed deeper.

"Oh Logan, how soon can you get back to work? We've put things on hold while everything was going on but now that it's all been taken care of I'd like to get things up and started again. Plus, house food stores are running low so we need you to figure out how to divide up the remaining food stores until I can get a run set up for more supplies."

Logan blinked at Kendall in surprise before his lips quirked. He could feel the laughter bubbling up and stifled it as best as he could, but the look of confusion on Kendall's face broke down his resistance. He started laughing hysterically, loudly and full-bodied. He pushed his chair back to hug his stomach as he laughed and he felt a tear or two slip down.

James started to laugh a second later, the laughter infectious. Carlos chuckled a little and Katie was just watching them like they were crazy. Kendall frowned as he watched Logan and he cleared his throat. Logan kept laughing though, unable to stop, even when Kendall cleared his throat again.

"Logan! What's so funny?" Kendall demanded. Logan bit the inside of his cheek and his chest heaved as he desperately tried to control himself. He breathed in and out deeply as he sat up straight and glanced at Kendall. Kendall was glaring at him and Logan slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing again.

"I- haha, I'm sorry Kendall, really, I just... it's kinda domestic, in the new sense of the word, you know?" Logan snorted and bit down on his lip. Kendall just stared at him before rolling his eyes.

"So any idea when you'll be ready, _wifey_?" it was Logan's turn to roll his eyes as James started laughing again, this time Carlos joining in. Katie had already decided the conversation was unimportant and had turned back to her food.

"I don't know _husband_, probably by tomorrow. However if would be good if you can get Lizzie to get the others to start going through and inventorying what we have for me as well as make a list of what we need."

Kendall nodded and the conversation halted for the time being as they finished up their breakfast. Once they were done Logan volunteered to do the dishes.

"Great! Hey Katie, want a tour of the house?" James asked the teen. Katie looked up at James, considered him for a moment before smiling.

"Sure."

"Awesome!" James cheered. "Come on, we'll start in the back," he said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chair. She laughed a bit at James' enthusiasm as they started walking towards the back of the house.

"Who did this house use to belong to?" Logan heard Katie question as they disappeared down the hallway. Logan turned to look at Carlos who was pushing away from the table and standing up.

"Going to get some sleep?" he questioned. Carlos yawned and nodded.

"Yeah, try not to need me for a few hours, okay?" Carlos didn't wait for a response before trudging up the stairs. Logan shook his head before turning to look at Kendall. Kendall gazed back at him with a soft look in his eyes. Logan smiled confusedly as he stood up as well.

"What's that look for?" he laughed. Kendall just shrugged and watched as Logan gathered up their plates, utensils and pans before bringing them over to the sink. The water would be working for another hour before it shut off until later that evening so Logan quickly got to work on the dishes.

Logan finished about ten minutes later and placed the last of the dishes on the drying rack with a sigh. He turned around and jumped as he ran into a strong chest. He glanced up with wide eyes and Kendall smirked down at him before trapping him against the counter with his arms.

"Kendall, wha-?" Kendall's lips crashed onto his, cutting him off. Logan took a moment to process what was happening, but as soon as he did he moaned and wrapped his arms around Kendall's neck to pull him closer.

Kendall pulled back and pressed a kiss to Logan's forehead. "I love you," he whispered. Logan grinned, even though he knew Kendall didn't mean it like Logan did. Not yet at least.

"I love you," he murmured back. He could feel Kendall smiling against his forehead before Kendall pulled back.

"I need to go out for a while. I still need to deal with Steston's dogs," Kendall growled, expression changing suddenly from one of adoration to one of anger. Logan nodded in understanding.

"Try not to make a mess, okay? Because then the person who cleans it up is either going to be me, or whoever it is will _complain_ to me about your _barbaric_ methods," Logan teased. Kendall laughed and nodded.

"I promise. I'll be back later, make sure Katie's all right while I'm gone?" Logan nodded and Kendall grinned.

Kendall pressed his lips to Logan's one more time before turning and leaving the room. Logan just shook his head at Kendall's abruptness but didn't hold it against him.

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter. A month ago if someone had told him that they'd find Katie, discover four traitors in their midst, go head to head with a rival gang (of a sorts) and win, that he'd get kidnapped and that he and Kendall would finally get together… he'd have told them they were crazy and offered to shoot them himself.

Yet here he was, and it had all happened. He knew it would take a while to recover from the events that had happened in the past weeks. Mentally and physically. The physical recovery would be easy enough. The mental recovery would take a bit longer, especially for Katie and partly for him, but he knew that they would manage it. It would be hard not to with James, Carlos and Kendall helping.

They got through this, they'd get through whatever happened next.

From the other side of the house Logan could hear the sound of James and Katie laughing gleefully over something. He grinned and pushed away from the counter, deciding to join them.

Because even though the world as they knew it ended three years ago, they were still there. They were still living, and they had each other. In this new world, nothing else even mattered.

* * *

**So that was the end. I hope you guys enjoyed :) I do have a sequel in mind for this, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it up. I'm thinking of writing it for the next BTR big bang, but if I can think of another story for that I'll write the sequel up sooner. IDK, it just depends on the time I have and if people want one :) Again, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.**


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